Facing our fears

Following on from my previous blogs in order to move on we first need to face fears and have courage.

Over the past few years, I have had to face a few fears, be bold and courageous. That is part of overcoming.  Now I'm not saying I do that in every situation as I still have a fear of heights, yet I have learnt some lessons in overcoming fears and being courageous in other parts of my life.

Recently I watched the film 'The Walk' with my son. It is based on the story of French high-wire artist Philippe Petit's walk between the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center on August 7, 1974. The film was amazing. Worth watching even if you don't have a head for heights. I loved the ending but no spoilers!  Even to look at this amazing feat I had to turn my head a few times, scared to look, particularly when he wobbled at various times practising and for real. 

Courage and boldness

Maybe we see courage as some huge daring action such as tight rope walking in high places, bunjee jumping, or parachuting or rescuing someone from a burning building. We see it a bit like a superhero type characteristic.


Courage is moving forward despite fear. It's only when we fight monsters that they go away so we need to acknowledge our fears and face them. In one of my favourite films Bilbo constantly has to face his fears of leaving his comfortable home, facing dark creatures in the night and much more. Yet he finds his courage and at  Journey's End.  Gandalf cheerfully remarks to Bilbo that he is not the hobbit he was. And this is true, for Bilbo and companions bravely elected to undertake the most perilous journey of all: to face their most fearful and painful memories. But then he finds his courage, the inner light is sparked and starts to flame brightly, as symbolised by his sword. He faces the inner fears and is no longer afraid. Ablaze with his new found courage he goes in search of his lost companions. Them then seeing Bilbo's courage take heart themselves and they go on to continue their journey.

I was afraid to leave my marriage for a long time worrying:

• What people might say to me

• What did God think about it (which was the most important to me)

• Financial implications

• Consequences for the children

but I took courage from my faith and decided that things had to change.


What are you fearful of?
A relationship break up
Your health?
Financial problems?
Children?
Work?

2 Timothy 1 v 7 says this.

'For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.'

 The verses which precede it Paul says this to Timothy:- 'I am reminded of your sincere faith, which first lived in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice and, I am persuaded, now lives in you also.'

Paul was encouraging Timothy- Don't worry God has given you all you need - power, love and a sound mind and the faith which your grandparent and mother had lives in you too. 

My Christian heritage goes back to my dads grandfather who got converted on a ship on the way to India. So I can relate to this encouragement. 

I was living with fear in my marriage for a long time. Mostly I withdrew particularly towards the end. I constantly lived in fear of the next thing which might upset my ex husband or what might trigger his anger or frustration so a lot of time I tried not to tell him things in order to avoid the consequences.

Sometimes we try to will ourselves from fear which is very hard to do. We try to control fear in indirect ways by not  keeping company with people who pull us down and worry, or we withdraw from things which cause us to fear. We might withdraw, avoid it or pretend
 it's not there.

Fear can either be an enemy or an ally.  Fear can take away your motivation, your faith, your ability, confidence and your purpose.  Fear is the first thing that God warned Joshua about and discouragement was the second in Joshua 1:9 but Joshua had faith to see his mission through. Fear can turn into a debilitating cycle in your life. 

John Maxwell in his book, 'Falling Forward' says that it starts with Fear, progresses to Inactivity, results in Inexperience and ends in Inability.

The remedy is not letting fear control us and shifting our perspective onto God trusting in faith that he has given us a spirit of power, love and a sound mind (to make decisions) so we can move forward.

Being bold means we choose to believe that God is bigger than our fears and commit to action.

There is a  true story of a 37 year-old man in the Soviet Union who one day astonished friends and neighbours. He had been thought dead for eighteen years, when one day he emerged from under a pile of goat poop shrieking, “I want to work! I want to live!”

His neighbours were astonished by this because they all believed him to have been killed in World War II 18 years earlier. The story, as it turns out, is that on the night he was marching off to war, he deserted, and sneaked home to the hiding place that his parents made for him under the manure pile at the back of the family goat shed. His mother had told him, “Don’t mind the goats and the poop – at least you’ll survive.”
So there he stayed for eighteen years, afraid of coming into the light in case his neighbours and the government found out he had been a deserter. 

Maybe you can relate  to this . Has there been a battle waiting for you to fight it, and instead of going to war you went into hiding. You pretended like it didn’t exist, and instead of going forward in life, you hid under a pile of shame, problems, self interest and despair.

I had to make that choice to say I don't want to be in hiding, I want to fight for my purpose in life. 

One of the verses which helped me when I left my marriage with nowhere to live and the possibility of being homeless was this: 

I had to have faith that God would work things out- and he has.  I have to keep reminding myself that I can be courageous and face whatever it is with faith in God.

Faith also pleases God. Hebrews is full of mention of people who acted in faith and faced their fears to overcome.

Let's be people who face our fears with faith in God who is always with us.