Let Your Faith Be Greater Than Your Fear
I think we can all agree...that everyone is afraid of something. I am afraid of heights! I have shared this before and I am sharing it again because it really bothers me that
I have this fear. I have done many things to try to overcome it and through the process of trying I am learning that step by step even though my physical reactions to heights haven't changed much - the fear of them no longer control me.
Every time I am faced with a new challenge that involves heights, I have the same reaction. It is like I have an internal height-o-meter. Once I have reached the limit of the height meter the symptoms of fear take over. I get sweaty palms, my breathing increases to quick rapid breaths, my heart beats faster and feels like it will pound out of my chest, I feel light headed and sometimes my stomach turns so intensely it sends me to the bathroom.
When I was younger I would submit to my fear and back down from whatever challenge faced me. As I grew up and grew in my knowledge of God's Word a day came where I realized that being a child of God meant that I didn't have to let fear control me. I may have the same physical responses to fear, but I don’t have to have the same actions.
I have heard it repeated many times over the years that courage is not the absence of fear but choosing to take action while you are afraid. 2 Timothy 1:7 'For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind'. God does not want us to live our lives in fear. He has given us power to overcome anything and love to encourage that power and a sound mind to know when to act and when to stand still. I don’t think God wants us going around doing a lot of crazy stunts, or making a lot of irrational decisions just to push past a fear, hence the sound mind part. We need to use wisdom. What I do believe is that God loves us so much He saw to it that everything we will ever need He has was sure to put in His Word. We can find love, hope, faith, knowledge, encouragement and instruction.
Every time I am faced with a new challenge that involves heights, I have the same reaction. It is like I have an internal height-o-meter. Once I have reached the limit of the height meter the symptoms of fear take over. I get sweaty palms, my breathing increases to quick rapid breaths, my heart beats faster and feels like it will pound out of my chest, I feel light headed and sometimes my stomach turns so intensely it sends me to the bathroom.
When I was younger I would submit to my fear and back down from whatever challenge faced me. As I grew up and grew in my knowledge of God's Word a day came where I realized that being a child of God meant that I didn't have to let fear control me. I may have the same physical responses to fear, but I don’t have to have the same actions.
I have heard it repeated many times over the years that courage is not the absence of fear but choosing to take action while you are afraid. 2 Timothy 1:7 'For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind'. God does not want us to live our lives in fear. He has given us power to overcome anything and love to encourage that power and a sound mind to know when to act and when to stand still. I don’t think God wants us going around doing a lot of crazy stunts, or making a lot of irrational decisions just to push past a fear, hence the sound mind part. We need to use wisdom. What I do believe is that God loves us so much He saw to it that everything we will ever need He has was sure to put in His Word. We can find love, hope, faith, knowledge, encouragement and instruction.
I wanted to share a testimony with you concerning my greatest fear - heights.
My family went hiking in the Great Smoky Mountains. My husband Tom and I have three beautiful children; Andrew, Jonathan, and Maggie. I am the only one in my family who is afraid of heights. I am thankful I did not pass this gene onto my children. But let's just say that while hiking, a mountain, very high in the sky, I am outnumbered in the 'this is fun' factor!
One afternoon while driving along the curvy mountain roads we passed a sign that said “Clingmans Dome” seven miles this way (sign pointing up). Immediately my husband insisted that we follow the signs. Before you judge him, he made it up to me by spending the next day shopping...all day long. After seven miles of “Watch OUT”, “Oh My Gosh”, “Agh this is SO high up”, and putting my hands over my eyes, but then having to peak to make sure he wasn’t going to drive off of the mountain, we made it; so I thought. This isn’t so bad I thought to myself. There was a nice flat area to park your car, they had restrooms, or porter potties disguised as restrooms, and railings; I like railings. But, alas, we were not there. We were where the driving ended and the hiking began. We still had a one half mile hike ahead of us, straight up. Okay maybe not straight up, but I would say so steep that it felt straight up. There aren’t any railings on this hike, but lots of places to stop and rest. I took advantage of them all, not that I needed to rest, but I wanted to prolong getting to the top as long as I could. My husband and my two sons practically ran up the mountain. They were giddy and laughing and talking about how high up we were. “We are in the clouds” they would shriek, “My sunglasses are wet from the cloud mist” my husband would say. My daughter was genuinely tired. She complained until we told her what a great experience this was and that she could tell everyone back home about her amazing adventure. Consoling her took my mind off of how high up we were. She loves to talk and tell stories so I took my time telling her about all of the great stories she was going to get to share with our family when we got home. She was quickly appeased and joined her brothers running up the mountain. When we got to the top of the mountain there it was - Death's Dome - I mean Clingmans Dome. My anxiety symptoms began to intensify. They had already started on the hike up but I managed to control them. I had sweaty palms and rapid breathing - I tried to blame it on the altitude - I wasn’t kidding myself ...I was scared. I felt God with me every step of the way. Probably because in my mind I was calling out His Name continuously. Lord, I don't wanna fall off this mountain, Lord I don't want to make my husband a widower, Lord my kids need me...Lord...I wanna go home!
Somehow - Some way - I was able to take a moment and take in the beauty that was surrounding me. I figured if this would be my last moments on earth...I may as well enjoy them. Oddly enough...I began to feel stronger. My palms stopped sweating and I marched up that mountain like a boss - then I reached the bottom of the dome.
My family had waited for me but as soon as my kids saw me they took off running up the cement ramp that would surely carry us all to our doom. I really felt that way. I felt like when I got to the top of the dome I would die. That is what fear does to you. It convinces you that whatever action you are about to take is going to kill you...or it is going to be painful, threatening or dangerous. Either way you remain paralyzed in fear refusing to push forward. My physical reaction to this extremely high dome was my heart feeling like it would pound out of my chest. My hands were so sweaty I could barely grip the rail. I really wanted to grip that rail! I just knew this 55 year old historic landmark would pick that moment to crumble to its demise. Either way I was a goner. My husband pointed to one of the benches planted firmly at the base of the lookout. I looked at him like he was completely out of his mind and I said, “If you think I hiked all the way up here to face one of my greatest fears and not at least try, you underestimate me” “Humph…”, I stuck my nose up and for a split second I was brave.
As I started up and around the elevated bridge the symptoms worsened. It went black for a split second and my knees became jelly, and I was finally able to cling to one of the rails. I like rails. My husband, who had passed me to catch up with our children, turned around and came back for me. At this point angry with myself for being so wimpy, and needing to feel in control instead of helpless and afraid, I yelled at him to get the children, “save the children”, I said, "grab Maggie’s hand, don’t let her go” I yelled. At this point the kids were already dancing and playing and running in circles at the top of the dome. They were weaving in and out of the other soldiers who had conquered this garganctuos feat. Tom stood firmly in front of me and said, “You need to pull yourself together, get right with God and stop freaking out, or you are going to pass out”. He was right. I took several slow deep breaths, and pushed my way to the top. I clung to the railing for dear life. Like if the whole thing came crumbling down, the railing and I would not go down with it. My sweaty palms slid inch by inch up the rail dragging my jelly filled body with it. An hour later, not really, probably five minutes if that long, I did it! I stood up there long enough to get my picture taken, and cast a quick glance around at the view I had worked so hard to see. It really wasn’t about the view, I had seen a dozen beautiful views that week; it was about conquering my fear. There I stood, 6,634 feet above sea level, the highest point in Tennessee and the highest point on the Appalachian Trail. I was victorious! I had faith that could move mountains and I had used it.
My family went hiking in the Great Smoky Mountains. My husband Tom and I have three beautiful children; Andrew, Jonathan, and Maggie. I am the only one in my family who is afraid of heights. I am thankful I did not pass this gene onto my children. But let's just say that while hiking, a mountain, very high in the sky, I am outnumbered in the 'this is fun' factor!
One afternoon while driving along the curvy mountain roads we passed a sign that said “Clingmans Dome” seven miles this way (sign pointing up). Immediately my husband insisted that we follow the signs. Before you judge him, he made it up to me by spending the next day shopping...all day long. After seven miles of “Watch OUT”, “Oh My Gosh”, “Agh this is SO high up”, and putting my hands over my eyes, but then having to peak to make sure he wasn’t going to drive off of the mountain, we made it; so I thought. This isn’t so bad I thought to myself. There was a nice flat area to park your car, they had restrooms, or porter potties disguised as restrooms, and railings; I like railings. But, alas, we were not there. We were where the driving ended and the hiking began. We still had a one half mile hike ahead of us, straight up. Okay maybe not straight up, but I would say so steep that it felt straight up. There aren’t any railings on this hike, but lots of places to stop and rest. I took advantage of them all, not that I needed to rest, but I wanted to prolong getting to the top as long as I could. My husband and my two sons practically ran up the mountain. They were giddy and laughing and talking about how high up we were. “We are in the clouds” they would shriek, “My sunglasses are wet from the cloud mist” my husband would say. My daughter was genuinely tired. She complained until we told her what a great experience this was and that she could tell everyone back home about her amazing adventure. Consoling her took my mind off of how high up we were. She loves to talk and tell stories so I took my time telling her about all of the great stories she was going to get to share with our family when we got home. She was quickly appeased and joined her brothers running up the mountain. When we got to the top of the mountain there it was - Death's Dome - I mean Clingmans Dome. My anxiety symptoms began to intensify. They had already started on the hike up but I managed to control them. I had sweaty palms and rapid breathing - I tried to blame it on the altitude - I wasn’t kidding myself ...I was scared. I felt God with me every step of the way. Probably because in my mind I was calling out His Name continuously. Lord, I don't wanna fall off this mountain, Lord I don't want to make my husband a widower, Lord my kids need me...Lord...I wanna go home!
Somehow - Some way - I was able to take a moment and take in the beauty that was surrounding me. I figured if this would be my last moments on earth...I may as well enjoy them. Oddly enough...I began to feel stronger. My palms stopped sweating and I marched up that mountain like a boss - then I reached the bottom of the dome.
My family had waited for me but as soon as my kids saw me they took off running up the cement ramp that would surely carry us all to our doom. I really felt that way. I felt like when I got to the top of the dome I would die. That is what fear does to you. It convinces you that whatever action you are about to take is going to kill you...or it is going to be painful, threatening or dangerous. Either way you remain paralyzed in fear refusing to push forward. My physical reaction to this extremely high dome was my heart feeling like it would pound out of my chest. My hands were so sweaty I could barely grip the rail. I really wanted to grip that rail! I just knew this 55 year old historic landmark would pick that moment to crumble to its demise. Either way I was a goner. My husband pointed to one of the benches planted firmly at the base of the lookout. I looked at him like he was completely out of his mind and I said, “If you think I hiked all the way up here to face one of my greatest fears and not at least try, you underestimate me” “Humph…”, I stuck my nose up and for a split second I was brave.
As I started up and around the elevated bridge the symptoms worsened. It went black for a split second and my knees became jelly, and I was finally able to cling to one of the rails. I like rails. My husband, who had passed me to catch up with our children, turned around and came back for me. At this point angry with myself for being so wimpy, and needing to feel in control instead of helpless and afraid, I yelled at him to get the children, “save the children”, I said, "grab Maggie’s hand, don’t let her go” I yelled. At this point the kids were already dancing and playing and running in circles at the top of the dome. They were weaving in and out of the other soldiers who had conquered this garganctuos feat. Tom stood firmly in front of me and said, “You need to pull yourself together, get right with God and stop freaking out, or you are going to pass out”. He was right. I took several slow deep breaths, and pushed my way to the top. I clung to the railing for dear life. Like if the whole thing came crumbling down, the railing and I would not go down with it. My sweaty palms slid inch by inch up the rail dragging my jelly filled body with it. An hour later, not really, probably five minutes if that long, I did it! I stood up there long enough to get my picture taken, and cast a quick glance around at the view I had worked so hard to see. It really wasn’t about the view, I had seen a dozen beautiful views that week; it was about conquering my fear. There I stood, 6,634 feet above sea level, the highest point in Tennessee and the highest point on the Appalachian Trail. I was victorious! I had faith that could move mountains and I had used it.
I realized
later while pondering over my great feat, that faith without works really is
dead. God had given me the faith I needed to push passed my fear and get the
results I desired. However without taking the steps up the mountain, up the
ramp and into the dome, my faith would have been dead. Instead my faith grew
and showed it's life inside of me. I know that everyone is not afraid of
heights like I am. I am in a family of apparent height lovers! But, I do know
that everyone is afraid of something. I know that what I feel while up on a
mountain, or on top of a roller coaster, or when I am about to fly in an
airplane, others feel too; just when facing their own fears. I also know that God
has given us faith. What we choose to do with that faith is up to us. We can
stifle it or trust it and let it grow inside of us. We let it grow by choosing to take action when we are anxious about things. We take the first step in that action
by asking God to help us, guide us and direct us. The bible says in Philippians 4:6 (NIV) “Do not be anxious
about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with
thanksgiving, present your requests to God”.
I want to add - that whether or not I climbed that mountain didn’t make or break who I am in God. He loves me the same - whether sitting on the bench or climbing the mountain. However, I wanted to experience that special moment with my family. It was important to me. I also wanted to show my children that fear does not control you and that we have the freedom of choice. The enemy tries to use fear to hinder us and keep us from doing what God has called us to do or to keep us from living the amazing victorious life we were born to live. I prayed for strength to overcome my fear, and for that moment God gave me the strength that I needed. He will do it for you too!
The bible says in 2 Corinthians 12:9 - But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.
I want to add - that whether or not I climbed that mountain didn’t make or break who I am in God. He loves me the same - whether sitting on the bench or climbing the mountain. However, I wanted to experience that special moment with my family. It was important to me. I also wanted to show my children that fear does not control you and that we have the freedom of choice. The enemy tries to use fear to hinder us and keep us from doing what God has called us to do or to keep us from living the amazing victorious life we were born to live. I prayed for strength to overcome my fear, and for that moment God gave me the strength that I needed. He will do it for you too!
The bible says in 2 Corinthians 12:9 - But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.
I
know that some of you out there are facing fears that outweigh conquering heights.
I encourage you to ask God for the courage you need so in your weakness you can experience His strength and conquer the fear that keeps you in bondage. Whether it is leaving an abusive
relationship, changing jobs, getting help for depression, anything at all, I
know that God understands. He is the only one that truly does. I pray that my testimony has inspired you and that your faith has been increased and that you believe you can
do all things through God who gives you strength.
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