What are you afraid of today? I know people who are afraid of, water, contracting an incurable disease, dogs, dying, failing, and on goes the list. I’ve known people who were afraid to leave their home, but they finally recognized living such a life was really no way to live. They decided to dominate fear instead of allowing fear to dominate their life. No matter what your fears are, it’s time to identify them, confront them, and defeat them because one thing is sure: God’s best for you is not to live in fear. In fact, he promises to help you get free. “I prayed to the Lord, and he answered me. He freed me from all my fears.”
My mother is a champion over fear. She was diagnosed with cancer at 48 years old, and given only a few weeks to live. Daily, she told us later, she had to fight fearful thoughts of dying. The thing that helped her most, she said, was she kept moving: In faith that God had a plan for her even during such a trying time, she continued to cook, clean, and attend all of Lakewood’s church services. She refused to allow fear to paralyze her and to put her in bed for the rest of her days.
She could have given in to thoughts like, I won’t live until Christmas. I won’t live to see my children grow up and get married. Just give up and go on and plan your funeral. But she knew such foreboding trains of thought would leave her second-guessing everything. Instead she wanted what God promises: To grant us peace, sound thoughts, goodness.
Living in truth makes the most of our time and helps God get us to the more he has in mind for us. Our days are numbered, the Bible reminds us, and the wise person is the one who decides to make the most of every day, not to waste even one on a lie.
Excerpt from You Are Made For More!
