Thursday, February 25, 2010

A Prayer for Overcoming Fear

I have this problem. I have a love/hate relationship with organization. I LOVE to be organized, but I HATE the effort it requires or I'm unable to balance it all. I usually start off REALLY great with GREAT intentions, but I think you know what they say about roads, pavement, & great intentions!

One of the problems of being organizationally challenged is those stacks of notebooks, note cards, and slips of paper that I have EVERYWHERE. I LOVE to write down things that I know will inspire me or someone else at a later time. I read CONSTANTLY! The problem is that I have a a tendency to start several non-fiction books at once. Fiction is totally not a problem---my husband and kids will attest to the fact that if they see me head upstairs to the bathtub with a book, they can be assured that once I come back down that novel will be finished since I read at a VERY rapid pace. Non-Fiction is another story. I like to really let things soak in and take notes. With the pace of my life these last few years, I just don't seem to really finish one before another has sparked my interest. It isn't that I have lost interest in the first one.....it's just that constant need of mine to be seeking out MORE & MORE information/inspiration/etc...

The REAL problem comes in with the fact that I don't take the time to "label" my notes. Months (or longer) go by and I rediscover something that "speaks" to me and I don't have the FAINTEST idea where it came from. It's something I'm in the process of working on......maybe I'll succeed this time.

Today I found something that really encouraged me in a situation. I don't have a clue which book the notes came from, but BOY oh BOY do I wish I did! I know it's a book that I would LOVE to be reading back through! Finding it was perfect timing. Luck? God at work? Anyone that knows me, knows the answer I give to that! Perhaps God also wanted me to find it and share it knowing that someone else might be struggling with some of the same issues I'm facing.

It's simply a prayer. However, if you let the authors words REALLY soak in----I hope you will see just how powerful it is. It's about fear. We ALL have it. I don't think it's about the typical phobias that people have---though I'm SURE it would apply. For me, it's more about the fear of "being"-----being ALL those things God KNOWS I can be. Fear of not succeeding. Fear of not living up to HIS expectations. Fear of giving up on something that I KNOW he is going to provide. Fear of just "losing touch" with the ME he is calling ME to be. Fear of messing up---yet again!

"Lord, it seems so much easier to be afraid than courageous, and yet, you KNOW my spirit longs for the courage that ONLY you supply. Show me the POWER that you have designed to fight the fear. Show me the LOVE that is STRONGER than the PAST. Show me the self-discipline that helps me stay the course. Show me the COURAGE you've ALREADY given me for this wait. Show me my fear---the WEAK and GROUNDLESS fear that vanishes with YOUR TOUCH. Show me the wonders that appear in it's wake!"

I do believe this is a prayer I'm going to be praying over and over! Also on the bottom of that same page, I wrote a quote...

"Courage is the path on which your work travels. Fear is just a pothole you fill with your faith!"

Today may we all find the courage to fill our potholes of fear with faith----and lots of it! :)

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