Tracy sat on the floor outside the closed bathroom door and pleaded with God as her mind raced. Help her Father, I don’t know what to do anymore. Remove her fear in Jesus’ name. This was now happening every morning. Her daughter, Sarah, used to eagerly knock at her door wanting to know which shoes looked best with her outfit. Now Sarah hid in the bathroom, needing to throw up, shaking as fear flooded her body. She hated school. There is nothing like watching your child suffer and feeling like you can’t do anything to take away their pain. Let me encourage you moms and dads, your love makes a difference. Your presence matters.
Sometimes we are tempted to avoid intense feelings because often they don’t make sense. They don’t fit into our beliefs about what “should be”. I sometimes wish that we would allow ourselves to see these overwhelming emotions from a fact perspective. For example, when someone has epilepsy we expect that they will have seizures. It’s just a fact. Growing up with epilepsy myself, I never knew when I would have a seizure. This unpredictable danger initially caused fear that could have stunted my life, but God had different plans for me. Just like God has different plans for Sarah.
Whether it is panic attacks or seizures, we are not defined by our circumstances. We don’t have to give them any power over our life. Sarah’s panic attacks are very real but they don’t own her unless she lets them. She can chose to learn to tackle fear moments with boldness. She can say, Ok, I got this. I’m not alone. I feel this now, but it will end. God, you’ll have to carry me through because I am too weak.
Likewise my battle with seizures was ongoing. As one of my many seizures ended, I awoke alone, outside, confused. Slowly my brain would wake through the splitting pain in my head. I would notice that I am bleeding because I fell on the concrete. I would begin to piece together the puzzle. Oh I must have had a seizure. I could tell myself, Never again will I go on a run, that was stupid, look what happened now. OR I could tell myself, God thank you for keeping me safe. Help me with anger about epilepsy. Never let it stunt Your plans for my life. Remind me Father that I am Yours.
You see it’s all about what we tell ourselves. As we do life with boldness, we know there are going to be road bumps. Do we chose to tell ourselves that it’s the end of the road when really it’s just a bend in the road? We are going to have times in the valley. It will feel like there is no way out. It will feel like there is no hope. Fear will pursue us but Love is always with us. Love has a name, He is Jesus. When fear is staring us down it doesn’t mean that He has left. We must chose Him! When we chose Love, fear must go. Each time we chose to believe Jesus when fear is in our face, we strengthen our faith. We build our “faith muscle”. I pray that the next time fear comes knocking, you will look at it with boldness in Christ. Let these truth’s from the bible be a light to you in the valley as you conquer fear.
- Psalms 23:4 NKJV “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; For You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.”
- Luke 12:32 NKJV “Do not fear, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.”
- 1 John 4:18 NKJV “There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love.”
- 2 Timothy 1:7 NKJV “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.”
March 29, 2018
Awesome things to conquer the fear & attacks on our peace🙌