Do Not Be Afraid

These words are too often, easier spoken than lived out. I haven’t been sleeping well this week. I’ve tossed and turned, been too hot, been worried, been frustrated that I could fall asleep between my five minute snooze button, but not at 2:00 am. I guess the corona pandemic has upset me more than I’ve been willing to admit. And it’s not just the virus itself, it’s also the unknowns that have followed in the wake of the virus….the shutdowns, closings, and isolation. It’s the non-stop inundation of information, opinions, facts, and statistics. I’ve had to quit reading. My chest was starting to feel tight as I sought the latest numbers or fretted over the most recent grocery store shortage. I had to shut down the steady stream of information, but it had already made it’s way into my worry patterns, thus keeping me up at night.

I haven’t made it to the treadmill this week because of this sleep cycle I’ve been on, but made myself today, hoping it helps on the other end. It’s amazing how running, even just a mile of two, can not just help the body, but also clear the brain. As I ran, listening to worship music, I also focused on my breathing. My lungs are strong, which is something I’ve taken for granted until now, reading stories of otherwise healthy people, losing their ability to breathe on their own due to the symptoms of this virus. And not just that, but loved ones can’t even be with the sick because of exposer, instead, they are quarantined, alone with their thoughts, fears, and prayers. This image has wrecked me.

One of the few times its quiet enough to think!

While I was (literally and) mentally running all these things in my brain, and singing along to the worship music in my ears, I began thinking about fear. The root, the way we respond and react to it, the way it cripples and robs, and it hit me, the blog that continually gets the most traffic that I’ve written, but even more so now, I wrote as a devotional when I was going to Africa almost three years ago titled, Let Your Faith Be Bigger Than Your Fear . Why is a blog about fear the most searched? Because people are afraid.

The thing about fear, (written from my perspective and experience) is that it lives in the dark, quiet places in our minds because we don’t want to talk about the things that scare us. The same as my children don’t like to recap a scary dream….people don’t want to give words to something they are afraid of. Instead, fear stays inside, it festers, it rears it’s ugly head and exaggerates our situations, crippling us, rendering us helpless in this state of anxiousness, panic, or flat out terror. We rationalize it, we feed it, and we keep it hidden.

Without counting for myself, but every where I look, I get the same number….it is in the Bible 365 time, to not fear. That we should not be afraid. Going back to the first sentence, that’s much easier said than done, especially once we are so far down the path of fear. I do NOT claim to have this figured completely out (or I wouldn’t be having so much trouble sleeping this week!) but I do think I know what helps me when I get to this place, which is what I’m hoping to share with you today….

Saying it is not enough. Reading the truth in scripture helps, but in and of itself is usually not enough either. Singing it, writing/journaling it, reminding myself…..none of these are enough or we would not be such a nation gripped with anxiety. The help comes when I seek the One who tells me not to be afraid. The Father who promises He will not forsake me. The God who has already defeated the enemy, and simply asks me to trust Him. The Creator whose ways are higher than my ways, and thoughts higher than my thoughts.

When I come to Him and lay my fear at His feet and claim Psalm 94:18 When I say, “My foot slips,” your steadfast love, O Lord, will hold me up. In the multitude of my anxieties, Your comforts delight my soul. When I rest in the presence of Jesus, assured of His love for me and let Him into the dark places where my fear hides, the Light of the World blasts out the fear. I’d like to say this is a one and done type of situation, but again, if that was the case, fear would not rule in so many lives. I was reminded of this about two in the morning when I was awake again, fretting, and then realized I was stuck in the familiar pattern of keeping my fear shut up in the dark and needed light to shed in that space again. This is a practice that will take years, but will bring a peace worth coming back for.

Friends, just like the cockroach runs free in the dark but scatter when light is shed, don’t give fear free range over your heart by keeping it tucked away in the dark. Ask God to come into those spaces and drive the fear out.

Praying for the love of Jesus to overwhelm you today!

Jules