Day 4: Controlling Our Fears, So They Don’t Control Us - He Calls You Beloved

Life had been hard for many, many months. After my marriage of twenty-five years had abruptly ended due to circumstances beyond my control, negative emotions seemed to overpower my life. The day finally came when I was sick and tired of feeling sad and spent, and I knew I needed to regain control of my thoughts. I was tired of letting my feelings boss me around and knew I could either learn to control my mind, or it would continue to control me.

I began asking God to show me what I needed to let go of – mentally and emotionally – and to equip me spiritually to break free from the negative thoughts. God soon helped me realize that I had been struggling with many negative mental strongholds, but there was one thing in particular which had a life-robbing chokehold on my peace.

Fear.

Suffocating fears of what the present day, and the future, might hold would rob me of sleep at night and crush my spirit every morning before I even got out of bed. Fears of how my children were feeling and coping. Countless fears that would always morph in my mind the more I thought about them, forcing me into thinking about all the “what-ifs” and worse-case scenarios.

So, in my prayer time, as God opened my eyes to the invisible enemy I had been fighting – my thoughts were constantly igniting fear in my heart. I got out my journal and began to write down my biggest fears one by one and to my surprise, within minutes, I had written out thirty-three fears with ease. Thirty. Three. Paralyzing. Fears. Have mercy. I didn’t realize until that very moment how my fears had multiplied or how much they were damaging my attitude, much less that they had such strong power over my thoughts, emotions and perspectives.

Immediately, I surrendered those fears and all the accompanying emotions to God. I wanted to break free from fear and grab onto hope instead. The difference that prayer of surrender made in my outlook and my life going forward amazed even me. Slowly, yet assuredly, as I intentionally captured fearful thoughts, my attitude began to change.

Isaiah 41:10 says, “Don’t be afraid, for I am with you. Don’t be discouraged, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you”(NLT).

These words were primarily directed to the Jews who had been exiled during their difficult captivity in Babylon. God was reminding them they were his, and therefore, had nothing to fear. We are also his. Therefore, we have nothing to fear either.

God’s promise to be with his beloveds, to strengthen those who need strength and to uphold with his own mighty righteous hand, is as valid for us today as it was for Jews back then. We won’t always be protected from things that elicit fear in our hearts, but we can always surrender those fears to God and trust that not only will He never leave our side, but He is more than capable of handling whatever it is that is filling our hearts and minds with fear.

How wonderful would life be without the presence of fear? How much happier would you feel if you no longer had to carry the burden of worry? That type of living is possible, as we learn to focus on faith instead of fear.

We can control our mind, or it will control us. The choice is ours.

Lord, please show me what is standing in the way of my peace and happiness: whatever I am holding onto that is keeping me from moving and embracing living life to the fullest. Help me trust you have things all under control.