The door slammed and I cringed
Shut before my face; like a kick
In my teeth: jaw dropped, crashed
With sinking heart and shattered
Into a zillion pieces before my eyes.
I succumbed, I surmised: gone, done;
All that I ever sought and hoped for
All that I’ve suffered and labored for:
What better could life ever offer
What’s the point of hope after all?
And why bother to stand, to fight,
To live: have your way fear!

What is your biggest fear in life? For some of us, it is fear of death and for some, everyday living is a nightmare. For some, it is fear for their health while there are those afraid that they will wake up again tomorrow to the same conditions they have been hoping to escape. For some, it is fear of losing a loved one, while others battle the grief of living with those they wish they could whistle out of their world and life. For some, it is fear of failure while some are desiring the very thing that is working so well could just fail and let them bail. For some, it is fear of finding that life is not what they think while others and pining away in hope that life would mirror their thoughts and dreams. For some, it is fear of losing their family and for others, they dread everyday they have to continue the act of being together. For a lot of people, it is fear of who they have to be as against who they truly are and desperately want to be. Different strokes for varying folks.

Once upon a time, I didn’t know fear. I feared nothing and couldn’t think of anything that would make my heart beat out of proportion. My faith tank was full: I could go anywhere and do anything with God. Once upon a time, I was a picture of courage and encouragement to the fearful. Then life found my soft spots and began to strike, one shot after the other. It aimed the farthest for the dearest and within a couple of months, I was stripped. My world turned upside down: fear moved not just into my neighborhood, it took over my heart and life. And without any visible signs, I crumbled from that warrior who would take up arms and go to war for anyone, with assurance of victory, to a fearful creature that turned and ran from every noise. I was running from everyone and everything and there wasn’t enough distance in between because the very fears we are running to escape actually follows us wherever we go.

But God knows us. God knows our hearts and our fears. And nobody knows how best to reach those orphaned places, to bring deliverance from overwhelming and crippling fear, along with healing and restoration in seemingly impossible situations. This is His business, His title and His job description: Faithful Savior, Mighty Deliverer, Healer of the broken, Restorer of all that was lost. That is the God with whom we have to do. He is not only able, He is faithful to deliver to the end, anyone who lugs their shattered pieces into His very presence. It doesn’t matter how complicated your case is, nothing is too much for God and He turns no one away.

This is the God I run to daily; the One with whom nothing is impossible. The God before whom every situation finds resolution. The Fear of Israel, before whom every surrendered fear bows. Every day I am learning, that we have the responsibility of choosing to release instead of holding tight to our fears, to lay them at His feet because until they are surrendered to God, He can’t force them out of us. He leads us by quiet streams so we can take our eyes off our fears to gaze upon the powerful and mighty Avenger of His own, and then in obedience surrender the fears that haunt and taunt us to Him instead of surrendering ourselves to the fears. It doesn’t matter what inspires those fears; death, life, rejection, failure, whatever – God is above all else and is calling us to where He is: above all else, fears inclusive. Today, surrounded by all you fear, when you hear His voice calling, will you hearken and surrender to Him, everything you feared and still fear? It is a process and the more we surrender to God, the more faith rises within to beat the very fears the enemy has used to flog the living daylight out of our dreams. May you turn your fears over to Him who alone deserves to be feared by all and in your surrender, find peace, faith and courage that comes from above.

Blessings
Glory!