Foster’s Faith-Filled Friday

Welcome to Coffee Hour with Chicklit Power and Foster’s Faith-Filled Friday with Trench Classes United! Grab your favorite beverage and join Breanna for a few thoughts on fear…will you Face Everything And Rise, or run?

So if you are like me, fear is something that has controlled my life for a long time! Fear of rejection, fear of being vulnerable, fear of judgment, fear of the unknown. I mean if you ask me, I could probably come up with fears that most people wouldn't know existed.

I would find myself crawling into bed at night and having to get up half a dozen times to make sure all the doors were locked, check on my son to make sure nobody kidnapped him and sometimes those nights turned into mornings with no sleep in between just completely paralyzed by fear, debilitating to say the least. 

Fast forward to the present, my fears are a bit different (and don't get me wrong I'm still a scaredy cat) but I find myself fearing things like being rejected or being judged for my beliefs and the things I stand firm on, fear of being radically in love with Jesus and people

just not understanding, the fear that the feelings/boundaries I have toward certain things and situations that are going on in my life are going to end up alienating me from friends or family. 

It happens more often than not and it's hard to stand firm in those beliefs because we as humans want to be accepted, right? So what do we do? We compromise and that compromise turns into all sorts of things we don't want to be involved in, things that the Lord doesn't want us to be involved in, whether it's agreeing with someone's sinful behavior or compromising our own morals to be accepted. 

I find myself in a constant battle every day to want to stand strong in what I know is right and Biblical but my flesh wants so badly to be included or to feel like I belong. God so knows my heart.

One night, after many nights of feeling this need, I lay in bed, opened my Bible and came across this scripture:

“‘Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze.’” Isaiah 43:1b-2 (NIV)

As I read each word slowly, God showed me something I’d never seen: My fears were like flames and every little compromise I made was like a drop of gasoline. Every attempt to ease my fears by compromising was like dousing fuel on the fire, and now it was consuming me.

After I allowed that to settle in, I realized that even though I may be rejected or hurt or left in the dust, I serve a God who will never leave me, never forsake me and is always true to His promises. And every day I make a choice to stay true to myself, my beliefs and to God and every day I can feel that fire that's been consuming me, slowly go out. 

Fear loses its power when we actively trust God more than what we fear.

Let’s ask God to show us what we are afraid of. What is paralyzing our faith? And then let’s give God a chance to come through for us as we courageously walk through our fears, holding God’s hand and trusting His heart to lead, protect and preserve us each step of the way.

Fearing less,

Brianna