Fear

Fear is defined as a distressing emotion aroused by impending danger, evil, or pain, whether the threat is real or imagined.

Fear, of the real or the imagined, is a very real experience that can cause a very real response in our physical and mental being. The physical responses to fear can include sweating, increased heart rate and high adrenaline levels as your body is preparing for a ‘fight or flight’ reaction. This is a very primitive and automatic response. It is crucial to our survival that we recognize danger and that our bodies know what to do when the danger presents itself. The emotional response is less primitive and more personal. Some people LOVE being fearful or afraid.  They love it so much that they jump out of planes, ski down mountains at incredible speeds or my personal favorite, strap an air tank on their back and slide into the deep blue sea. Hoping to catch a glimpse of a host of terrifying behemoths. These people love the adrenaline that comes with doing something that is absolutely terrifying to others. They don’t perceive fear that accompanies these adventures as negative. Instead it is perceived as a positive. The ‘WOOOHOOOO, DID YOU SEE WHAT I JUST DID?’ kind of positive.  

The funny thing is depending on what group you fall in, you tend to think the people in the other group are a little bit crazy. (Or a lot crazy depending on what they are jumping out of or on too.)

Fear is ever present in our lives. It is what keeps us alive in some cases and what makes us feel alive in others. Fear is not bad unless you let it have your life. Fear was not, ‘created’ to control us, it was ‘created’ to warn us. Fear is the little voice in your head that says, “Whoa, are you sure about this? This doesn’t seem like the best idea. Maybe you should step back and make sure this is the move you want to make.” Then you stop, look around, assess the situation and make a decision. You either jump full force ready to hear the wind swirl around you as you see the world in a new way. OR you walk away knowing that this was not the right jump. 

picture provided by www.skydiveet.com

But you make a decision, you fight or you take flight, you don’t stand there paralyzed with fear. We have to make a move. An ALL IN, balls to the wall move or a slow steady move to safer ground. Movement is mandatory. A life controlled by fear is a life without motion, it is stagnant and dying.

We have been promised a life free from fear, a life that is not controlled by the things that are meant to guide and protect us.  Yet, so many times we give these things, absolute control and they devour us.

What is your fear? What is holding you back? Is it being vulnerable? Is it being alone? Is it being committed? Is it being broke? Or better yet, being broken? Is it death? Whatever it may be please don’t give the little voice a bullhorn and say, “Here you make the decisions.” 

Fear will take control and it will slowly take away your dreams.

“…God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power (2 Tim 1:7) and he says in Isaiah 41:10 “I am the Lord, your God, who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, DO NOT FEAR; I will help you.

EmJ