Fear

Do you recognize fear? That feeling that rises from your insides and clutters your thoughts? It seems to slowly close your airways and makes you want to run. But fear isn't only the scary feeling that you might get from reading something like Frank Peretti's books. No, fear can be much more.

Let me share briefly some of them with you. I won't go into detail with some since this was part of my life and personal at that.
But I remember fear..... hiding in utility closets of apartment buildings waiting for someone I was terribly afraid of to leave the vicinity. The only problem was that there were also rats that liked to visit those utility closets and I sure didn't want to be there if one stopped by. I'm still afraid of rats!
I remember fear coming home with a D on a science test and knowing that Mom was not going to be happy. She meant well and made me keep good grades.
Fear when I thought I was so sick I was going to die, and reading medical books did not help the situation!
Fear when I laid down at night and it was just my brother and I and Mom wasn't there for the evening. I still remember listening to noises outside and holding on to my younger brother's hand for comfort.
Feeling fear when I went into labor with any and all of my children.
As I first tried to homeschool and felt so sick pregnant with my third. Failure is not a pretty thought.

Feeling Fear......have you felt it? And yet God sweetly reminds us of who He is and why we shouldn't fear. Why He's the one that led the children of Israel out of Egypt. The One who cleansed and made me whole. The One who helped Job and the three Hebrew children. The One who won my love. The One who knows....

He told Joshua and the Israelites, "Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed; for the Lord thy God is with thee wherever thou goest." (Joshua 1:9)
He also tells them in another place in scripture to "quit ye like men, and fight."

Fear tends to make us so like man. It makes us want to quit and run. God, who is for us, says the opposite, "Stand, Fight, Keep Going."

He reminds us of His love and wonderful works, and how that He can deliver. This gives us a back bone that says, "I will press on because my Redeemer liveth!" Because He Liveth!

I wrote this post because I needed to hear it- to read it. Perhaps more than you'll ever know. I had been thinking about fearing. It just so happened our 9yr. old listened to part of one of Frank Peretti's books on tape and he got scared. (Though Christian Fiction, this isn't really appropriate for children.)
The subject of fear seemed to come back over and over in my mind.
And so did...... the greatness of God.