Fear Factor

What we fear the most we create. Fear has a way of manifesting itself in our lives over and over again. We can run from fear but we cannot hide from fear. Fear will always catch up with us and if we don’t face it, fear will overcome us. Fear shows up in different faces, places, circumstances, and situations, but it’s all the same….it’s FEAR! I’ve always been a courageous person….walking right up to that lion and roaring back. There was no way I could let anything make me cower and besides, I love the challenges because they push me and I thrive off of them. Some might call that stupidity, but stupid, I am not. When someone says “NO,” I say to myself, ”Yes.” I can’t even count on one hand the situations I let overcome me. I’ve always been a fighter and as God is my witness, I’ve always embraced situations that most would run from. My spirit doesn’t rest if I don’t face fear.

Well, at 47, my spirit hasn’t rested because there is a fear that I have not dealt with. My fear is math and now I have to take and pass a statistics class. In my earlier years, I recall changing my major in order to get away from math and it worked. Whew! Dodged that bloody bullet! Now re-read my first paragraph. It’s back! Fear will leave you stuck. You simply cannot move forward in life when you are stuck. Yes, you can fake it, play the game, act like all is well, go about handling your business but there is still this gnawing at you. You will remain in an infantile state and will never be able to grow. You can’t take on more success because you can’t get past the basics. Well, I refuse to become stale, stagnant and allow fear (math) to keep me in bondage. It’s back and so it must be dealt with.

There is good news though. You don’t have to face this fear alone…in fact, you don’t even have to do much fighting. All you need to do is trust God and walk up to this lion. Just take a step. I’ve lived long enough to know that when I face things, they fall away and not because I wished them away. Because in this lifetime, I am not alone. I possess something so much greater than my own strength and that is our Lord’s strength. Why live life fearing, running, hiding and being afraid? Our chief source of strength that enables us to withstand fear will always be the knowledge that God is with us.

We need not fear any danger from anything natural or supernatural, small or great. It is the love of God that overshadows us and gives us victory in and over all these things. Handle your business, shut that lion down, walk up to your fear and grow. You really have nothing to fear. John 14:27 - "Let not your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful."