Dealing with Fear

Ask yourself: "What am I afraid of today?"

I have to do this from time-to-time, when my stomach is churning and my soul is burdened. 

Facing our fears head-on reveals them to be a lot smaller, and a whole lot sillier, then they appear to us when we're looking at our fears out of the corner of our eyes, or over our shoulders - then our fears appear gigantic and powerful.

Sometimes the first answer doesn't quite get at it. Keep pushing closer, and keep asking, "What am I afraid of today?"

Remember this: your experience of fear is never accurate, because anxiety magnifies the fear. Like looking at an ant in huge magnifying glass; the ant looks like a monster. But remove the magnifying glass, and the ant is just an ant. 

Remove the anxiety and our fears grow smaller. And when fear grows smaller, love begins to flow. Fearful souls are not very good at love. Souls freed from fear become conduits of God's love.

And then next step: faith.

Putting our lives and our future into the hands of God!

Not everyone has had a good experience "with god" - I understand that, and as a pastor, I regret what the church has sometimes done with God.

But God revealed in the face of Jesus is always good, and when God says, "I am at work in all things for good," it's a great comfort to me, and helps me put my life into God's hands. "I'll be all right" I have to say to myself; God will see me through."

Two steps today:

1) Ask the question as courageously as you can, "What am I afraid of today?" Push hard at this point!

2) And then say to God, "I put my life into your hands, and I trust your love in all of this!"

A spiritual exercise to clear the air and free the flow of love.

To see faith and commitment 

in someone's face is
always a remarkable moment.