Controlling Our Fear

This post about fear is sponsored by Illustrated Faith. All opinions are my own.

FEAR. It sneaks up on me sometimes. I’m all, “Yeah, I’m trusting God … la la la…” and then bam, fear strikes! I find myself scared or nervous or worried. (Or all three!) Perhaps, in those moments, I don’t really trust God as that much as I thought I did.

Fear is a totally real thing, and it can strike at basically anytime. Whether you saw something on the news, or got a phone call with bad news, or perhaps you just started daydreaming about all that could go wrong. Fear and worry go hand-in-hand, and we all face them on a regular basis.

Last week, I began to fear. The “what ifs” took over about a situation in my life. The worry left me in tears. I kept trying to trust God. I kept praying that He would handle things. I asked Him to take away my fears.

One day, as I was reading my daily devotional from Illustrated Faith’s monthly kit, I read the words I needed to hear.

Stop allowing yourselves to be agitated and disturbed; and do not permit yourselves to be fearful and intimidated and cowardly and unsettled. -John 14:27 (AMP)

Wilna, the author of this month’s kit called “I am Strong,” reminds us that Jesus is commanding us by saying “stop allowing yourself,” which means it is something within our power and in our hands.

A lot of times fear and worry feel like things I have no control over, especially considering how emotional and sensitive of a person I am. Worry comes naturally, and fear sometimes feels like a close friend — that’s how often we’ve hung out! But I’ve never read this verse in the way Wilna explains. We have control. We are the ones allowing the fear and worry to take over! That means we can stop it. It means we can have peace — we have the power to kick fear in the face and end our close friendship!

Here is a passage from the devotional that I just loved:

In Joshua 1:9, God commands us again: Be strong. Move. Get going. The fears will diminish on the way. Don’t let your fear of the unknown stop you from moving into the life and love God has planned for you. Stop being intimidated. Don’t stop moving!

As I considered all these things, I realized that my fear and worry wasn’t going to change anything. I could be scared, and it wasn’t going to keep anything bad from happening. The bad will happen whether we worry or not because we live in a fallen world. But we can choose to trust God, let go of the fear, and keep living — keep moving. And when the bad doesn’t happen, do you really want to waste all that time beforehand being miserable?

Is there something that’s been holding you back and keeping you from moving? What have you been fearing or worrying about? Remember that Jesus said we are the ones who have control over our fears. We can stop them. We can put our trust in God.

After reading this and spending time in prayer, I decided to keep moving. And I’m working on stopping the fear and worry. I’m working on trusting God more, handing Him my fears, and moving forward. It’s probably something I’ll be working on for the remainder of my life!

Be sure to check out Illustrated Faith’s devotional kit this month called I Am Strong. The kit includes:

• 1 devotional booklet (14 devotionals)
• 1 stamp pad
• 1 clear stamp collection with 1 sheet of cut outs enclosed
• 1 roll of washi tape
• 3 scripture sharables
• 1 sticker
• 1 bow clip

What helps you defeat fear and worry?