Monday Musings...

Do you have any silly fears? I've had a few (okay, several) in my lifetime. For instance, I'm scared of loud noises. I've been known to plug my ears at the movie theater because it was "so loud". I've even vacuumed while using one hand to plug one ear. And when I was little, I hated, dreaded, and avoided at all costs commercial bathrooms. It was bad enough to have your ears blasted by those sucking, swirling vortexes that could grab you and pull you down with them at any moment (aka toilets). But now, they have those hand drying machines that blast so much air and make so much noise that I just want to scream and run out!

Well, loud noises still scare me. But that's okay...it's just a silly fear. However, there are other kinds of fears that are far more powerful and far more controlling in our lives, if we allow them to be. Silly fears are fine. (Though I'm really trying to overcome my fear of loud noises! I don't plug my ears and vacuum at the same time anymore. LOL) However, there are lots of other fears that we need to give a kick in the pants and tell, "Get lost!" Those are the fears that are keeping us from following the Lord wholeheartedly, and fears that keep us from accomplishing great things for His kingdom. And that's what I want to focus on today.

I remember a list of fears that I made when I first began my weight loss journey. I realized that I had a lot of doubts and fears about my weight loss that were floating around in my head, and I knew that I needed to identify them and rely of God's grace to overcome them. Because if I didn't do that, I knew that I'd never be successful in weight loss long term. 2 Timothy 1:7 says, "For God did not give us a spirit of fear (timidity), but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline." I knew that I couldn't be reaching for a goal, all the while doubting that I'd ever be able to achieve it. That would be like working against myself the entire time!

So, I sat down on my bed one day and wrote a list of fears that I had been entertaining. Some of my fears were just plain absurd (I was scared that I might not like how I looked after I lost weight!) but some were more gripping and "believe able" (I thought that losing weight was a hopeless cause, and one that I didn't want to fight my entire life - I was scared that I'd fail).
I sat for a while, identifying as many fears as came to mind and writing them down. Then, I went through each one and found a Scripture passage that would conquer my wrong thoughts and apply to that specific fear. After I had prayed through each one and spoken the Truth of God's Word to dispel each fear, I ripped the sheet of paper as a symbolic action and threw it in the garbage.

I wish I could say that after that day I haven't struggled with those specific fears anymore. But that's not true. I still have to fight against some of them. As long as I'm focused on Christ, I can easily dispel those fears. But when I'm focused on myself, my needs, my weaknesses...that's when my guard is down and those fears creep in again. If we want to be effective for God's Kingdom and be able to walk in His freedom, we must get past these fears and move on. Give them a kick in the pants! Find a passage of Scripture that applies to that fear, memorize it and speak it outloud. Silly fears or gripping ones......let's move on in His strength!

Unplugging my ears,
Bekah