Fear
noun
1.
a distressing emotion aroused by impending danger,
evil,pain, etc., whether the threat is real or imagined;
the feeling or condition of being afraid.
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On a summer morning as he was fixing his breakfast, Ray Blankenship looked out his window to see a young girl being swept along in the rain-flooded drainage ditch beside his Ohio home. Blankenship knew that farther downstream, the ditch disappeared with a roar underneath the road and then emptied into the main culvert.
Ray dashed from his home and raced along the ditch trying to get ahead of the flailing child. Finally, he hurled himself into the deep, churning water. When he surfaced, he was able to grab the girl’s arm. The two tumbled end of end and then, within about three feet of the yawning culvert, Ray’s free hand felt something protrude from the bank. He clung to it desperately, the tremendous force of the water trying to tear him and the child away.
By the time fire-department rescuers arrived. Blankenship amazingly had pulled the girl to safety. Both were treated for shock. In that heroic moment, Ray Blankenship was at even greater risk than most people we knew….since…Ray couldn’t swim.
Today, let your courage respond to needs that you see not to the fear you may fee.
–Take from God’s Little Devotional Book
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I think we all deal with fear. And if you are like me, sometimes it can paralyze you from moving forward. Many times my past has paralyzed me. I often fear the things I have done and let them dictate my future. Which I know is completely the opposite of what God wants for me.
The World Race scared me. Before I decided to apply, I had this gut wrenching feeling in my stomach. It was the feeling of fear. I was afraid that I was not enough.
I felt that God could not be calling me to this because I was inadequate. My faith was too small. My spiritualism was not big enough. I was too big of a mess for Him to want me to do that.
Honestly, I just didn’t know if I had what it took to be selfless. Its hard to confess this, but I am selfish. I have so much that God has blessed me with, and I have not been using it to further His Kingdom at all!
Many of you reading this blog might be contemplating the world race or maybe you are contemplating something else God is calling you to. It is hard stepping out in Faith and facing your fears. But it is well worth it.
I finally got to the point where I was fed up with my fears dictating my future.
My advice is that when you face your fears,
you find freedom.
When you face your fears,
God becomes the one you cling to.
When you face your fears,
you can finally see your calling.
When you face your fears,
they begin to look small.
Watch the video below and maybe you will better understand what the right kind of fear looks like.
Be strong and of a good courage, fear not, nor be afraid of them; for the Lord thy God, he it is that will go with you, he will not fail you, nor forsake you.
Deuteronomy 31:6
