By
Dana Rausch
/ October 12, 2012
Fear can keep you paralyzed. It often deprives you of voluntarily moving ahead. It can bring you to a complete standstill and prevent you from functioning effectively.
What is fear? The dictionary defines it as a distressing emotion aroused by impending danger, evil, pain, etc., whether or not the threat is real or imagined; the feeling or condition of being afraid.
Synonyms of fear are: apprehension, dismay, dread, terror, fright, panic, horror and trepidation. Exactly like this picture depicts:
I have been paralyzed with this distressing emotion more than I care to admit. At times circumstances caused it:
· When I hid behind a bush on the side yard, as someone broke into my house…
· When I wedged myself behind a piano, waiting for someone to get home while a man was peering in a window…
· When I was being chased on foot by someone that wanted to bring me harm…
· When someone ransacked our family apartment and left a trail of blood…
· When becoming a mother for the first time…
· When I watched a car battery blow up in my husband’s face…
· When I heard I had cancer…
Anybody would feel fear experiencing any of the above scenarios. Wouldn’t you?
Yet today, I live with fright in a different way: mentally. My thought life is running rampant with fear.
· I am afraid that I will fail.· I am afraid that nobody will read my book.
· I am afraid that the voices in my mind are correct and I am a loser.
· I am afraid that my dream will never come true.
· I am afraid that people will think I am fake.
· I am afraid that people will gossip and lie about me.
Recently, I read that a pastor and his wife chose to get a divorce. As an actress, she was always in the limelight. She wrote books, home schooled her kids and was the epitome of the perfect American wife.
I had met them through the years at pastor’s conferences, and was saddened to read the article. Yet more surprising and shocking were the comments that others wrote.
They were numerous and ruthless. People ripped her to shreds with their words. They attacked her Christianity, popularity and authenticity. It was brutal.
And that frightens me. Cruel and heartless people scare me…….As I labor to get the words on paper for the book, build a platform, attend writer conferences and juggle everyday life…the mind game becomes vicious.
Yet Isaiah 51:7 says, “Listen to me, you who know right from wrong, you who cherish my law in your hearts. Do not be afraid of people’s scorn, nor fear their insults.
Isaiah 43:1-5 says, “DO NOT BE AFRAID, for I have ransomed you: I have called you by name; you are mine. When you go through deep waters, I will be with you. When you go through rivers of difficulty, you will not drown. When you walk through the fire of oppression, you will not be burned up; the flames will not consume you. For I am the LORD, your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior. …….you are precious to me….you are honored and I love you…DO NOT BE AFRAID, for I am with you.”
I am reigning in my thoughts today, reminding myself of another verse, 1 John 4:4: “Greater is HE that is in you; than he that is in the world.”
Because you see what I feel is not always real. The truth is; God is with me. Although my mind tells me I am terrified of the enemy, I am never alone.
Exactly as the REAL picture depicts……………
