Almagor: No Fear!

I just competed a week of intensive missionary training with the missions organization I will be a part of. I left there encouraged and afraid. Not the debilitating kind of fear but the kind of fear that causes me to understand the daunting task before me, while having the courage to move forward because I know God is in control.

Throughout our lives we receive messages through various means—verbally, through body language and facial expressions and through the actions of others. The message I have received in my life is that there is something wrong with you if you are afraid. There is not a person in the world who has ever said those words to me, but somehow, this was a belief I held onto until recent years.

Fear does not mean you are incapable or weak. Fear is a valid emotion and a powerful force in our lives. Sometimes the emotion of fear gives you caution that there is danger ahead. Other times it keeps you from moving toward something good. I continue to learn how to discern the difference.

I’m not sure the feeling of being afraid will go away, but I do know that I will continue to move forward with confidence that only comes from God. I choose to not let fear rule my life.

“Courage is not the absence of fear but the refusal to let it control you!”

What is that thing that causes you fear right now? The first thing that comes to your mind? Pray that God would take the fear away and then choose to step into it. Afraid and all!

For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. (2 Timothy 1:7)