I’m going to paint a picture for you. Imagine yourself settled inside a comfy room. You’re in your favorite jammies and snuggled up close to a warm fire. You’re sitting in a cushy recliner with a blanket wrapped around you, and you just feel safe. Out side your window you notice it’s stormy outside. The wind is shaking the tree branches, and rain pounds at your window loud enough that it startles you. All of a sudden you notice that there are children outside playing in the streets. They’re joyful and laughing. They dance in the rain and sing with the wind. You wonder what it must be like out there, what the rain feels like on your skin and how the wind tosses your hair. The desire to leave your fireplace-warmed room becomes insatiable and finally you get up and reach to turn the doorknob of your safe little sanctuary, to find that you’re locked in. You couldn’t leave even if you wanted to. This “safe place” this “comfort zone” has trapped you from experiencing life outside of its walls. You become panicked at the realization that this comfortable place has deceived you.
That my friends is exactly what fear is like. It keeps you safe and warm and comfortable. You don’t even realize that you are trapped in it until someone asks you to do something outside of it. Then you realize you’re in it. You’re in that room and it is safe and you don’t want to leave, but you are longing for even a glimpse of what life outside of your comfort zone is like.
I didn’t realize how tightly this fear thing had me in its grip until last week. I had been praying that God would provide time and energy for me to focus on fundraising for this journey, and I felt like I finally got an answer. Work less. I’m just going to be really honest for a second and tell you that I was so not a fan of that solution. I’ve been raised by two incredibly hard working parents who never made exceptions for working hard all the time. The thought of asking for fewer hours at work made my stomach tie up in knots. Logically I was thinking, “Okay so at work I am guaranteed a certain amount of money per hour that I work… if I take fewer hours that I’m guaranteed money so that I can spend more hours setting up meetings, and talking to people about partnering with me… I could be left in the dust! What if no one wants to partner with me?! What if I set up all these appointments and get stood up or say the wrong thing?! What if less hours at work causes me to not be able to save for the Race?!” my heart was in my throat and I was not about to have that.
AND THAT’S WHEN I REALIZED I WAS STUCK IN THAT FREAKING ROOM.
I flipped through my bible to see what I could find about fear in the concordance and literally almost every reference to fear is fear of The Lord. Dang it! Again?! This has not been my first run in with fear, let me tell you.
“But once He has made his decision, who can change his mind? Whatever he wants to do, He does. So He will do to me whatever He has planned. He controls my destiny. No wonder I am so terrified in his presence. When I think of it, terror grips me. God has made me sick at heart; the Almighty has terrified me.” Job 23:13-16 (NLT)
Clearly I had misplaced my fear. My fear has been lying in my circumstances when the realization that GOD determines whether I even get to draw my next breath should be enough to place my fear in Him.
“The former governors, in contrast, had laid heavy burdens on people, demanding a daily ration of food and wine, besides forty pieces of silver. Even their assistants took advantage of the people. But because I feared God, I did not act that way.” Nehemiah 5:15 (NLT)
Fearing God changes your behavior. It changes who you are.
“But the love of the Lord remains forever with those who fear him. His salvation extends to the children’s children.” Psalm 103:17 (NLT)
Those who fear Him get to experience His love forever.
I want to fear not doing what God tells me to do more than fearing what He tells me to do because He controls everything! How silly of me to be fearful of taking a step prompted by Him, it’s all a part of His plan in the first place. Jeremiah 29:11 tells me that God has big plans for me! Plans to prosper me and not to harm me. He loves His children.
So this is me taking a step outside of my comfort zone that has so deceivingly kept me “safe” for so long. I am now working fewer hours and getting ready to take more steps, with each one knowing that I have nothing and no one to fear but The Lord. Because He’s got this.
I hope that you can find peace and rest in knowing that there is nothing and no one too big for God to handle. He knows who you are and what you’re going through. He heard you when you read that last sentence in your head. He is waiting to lavish you in His perfect love as you place your fear in Him alone.
Thank you for reading! Love you guys!
