Conquering Fear

Fear. I've mentioned dealing with this emotion in quite a few of my posts. It's something that I struggle with—sometimes to a paralyzing degree. It's a daily, moment-by-moment struggle, but I'm determined to overcome because fear is an enemy of faith.  

Perhaps you've heard the expression that fear stands for False Evidence Appearing Real. Well, I found this great quote by Mark Twain on the subject: “I am an old man and have known a great many troubles, but most of them never happened.”

Fear will make you remain silent when you should speak. Fear will cause you to run when you should stand and fight. Fear will tell you to give up rather than pursue your passion. Fear will persuade you to blend in rather than stand out. Fear will convince you to settle.

Fear makes bad decisions; causes anxiety, stress and ill health; damages relationships; and destroys dreams. Fear opens the door to all manner of pain, strife, and even hatred, which wreck havoc in your life. Just ask Job: "For the thing which I greatly feared is come upon me, and that which I was afraid of is come unto me." (Job 3:25) It was Job's own fears that brought about his suffering, not God, not even satan.

Fear prevents you from living the amazing, abundant life that you were meant to live.

God doesn't want us to live in fear, not even of Him. Perfect love cannot exist where there is fear. Fear breeds resentment such that those who fear Him will never be able to truly love Him or receive His love. 

As I've mentioned in a previous post, we come into this world with only two fears. Over time, we develop more than 7,000. That's a lot of fear! We may not be able to let go of all of them, but I believe it's possible to conquer them. One day, one moment at a time with courage and faith in a perfect love.

"There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment." –1 John 4:18
"Courage is not the absence of fear. It is acting in spite of it."–Mark Twain

The Secret Hidden in Porcelain

"Tell me what you want to hear
Something that'll light those years
Sick of all of the insincere
I'm gonna give all my secrets away"

Secrets by OneRepublic
© Universal Music Publishing Group, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC

Not sure why, but this song has become one of my favorites in recent weeks. I find myself humming it in my head many times throughout the day. Maybe because it reminds me of the background music that plays toward the end of one of my favorite Christian programs. Or maybe, because the idea of revealing all my secrets sounds very freeing, especially for someone as fiercely private as I am.

Then again, it could simply boil down to me feeling very weary of having spent years creating the persona of a woman able to hold it together and keep things perfectly under control—not terribly fazed, never deeply hurt, and never really disappointed—no matter what breaks in my life. It's the reason I'm so private, so guarded, for fear that someone might uncover the truth. Much like a porcelain dish, from a distance everything looks perfect and polished, pristinely beautiful. Examine it too closely and you might just see the cracks and imperfections that often result when clay is exposed to extreme heat.

Now, I must ask myself: "Is the dish truly of any less value?" "Am I?"