Fear. From the monster under the bed, to the spider you find in your house or even to the idea that "Jaws" is swimming alongside us, fear is an ever-present part of life.
Fear is a tool that can be used in many ways. Some use fear as a tactic that can scare a child into behaving. Movies like to put terror into the minds of their audiences regularly. Some surprises can cause people to jump in a moment of panic. But what happens when that seemingly innocent spurt of fear starts to visit more frequently? What happens when a moment of panic becomes an all real and frequent attack? What happens when fear changes from just being a frightening moment into a concept that controls a person's life?
Becoming fear's 'victim' sounds ridiculous, but it happens much more than people like to admit. And, the crazy thing is, you may not even know that you are one of those people until you're stuck right in the middle of it; right in the grip of fear itself.
You see, we as humans like to think we are invincible (myself included). This sense of invincibility begins when we are young. As children, we are clueless, and that can make us fearless. Think about it. When I was young I didn't even blink before I decided to go play in the dirt or to jump into deep, murky water. Nothing phased that little girl, but then she grew up. She learned about the world and its people. She began to take fewer risks, to analyze more. Her invincibility became a cover for what she was really feeling—fear.
Sometimes it just takes an inspiration to change your life. Sometimes it takes a brick wall. Let's just say that I hit my brick wall and then inspiration hit me after that. I had become so fearful that I hit bottom, but I couldn't change after that because I didn't know where to begin. I couldn't see that the very thing holding me in my fear was staring at me every time I looked into a mirror (or a phone camera). You see, I had a relationship with the one person who was supposed to "magically remove all your fears". This person was (and is) Jesus, and ask anyone, His word, The Bible, says "fear not" MULTIPLE times (about 100 actually, google it). But what poor, ignorant me could not seem to grasp was that it takes so much more than knowing Him.
You see, my dad lectured a lot (and I do mean a lot), but one statement that I remember that he always used to tell me was, "You have Jesus, you shouldn't be afraid of anything." Back then, all I could think was, "Well yeah, that's great but it doesn't work like that." And oh, how wrong I was.
Christ can do much for a person (if you don't know Him, I suggest you meet Him. He's a nice guy.). He can deliver you from any struggle -- if you let Him. How is just knowing Him not letting Him deliver you? Lots of beings know Christ, but you cannot just know Jesus. You must give Him your heart, mind and soul. If Christ has all of these, there is no room left for fear to take hold. Just like a person cannot go into an already occupied room, fear cannot be present in an otherwise taken up being.
This inspiration, or revelation even, about really finding Christ and welcoming Him into my very soul hit me long after my father's words did. I went years thinking that knowing Him was enough; until I really let Him in.
Jesus now occupies my life, and He consumes my soul. He has truly taken the place of fear. Without that fear, I have found a piece of that little girl. The girl who wasn't afraid to get her hands dirty, who didn't think twice about jumping into the unknown -- that fearless little girl.
