About This Blog

The butterfly picture in the upper left corner is a symbol and reminder for me of the spiritual process. Sometimes I am the caterpillar - barely able to see far enough in front of me to put one foot in front of the other. Sometimes I find myself in that dark place of the soul, and I remind myself that it is simply my cocoon. While all may seem dark, and I may feel like everything is totally disintegrating around me (and in me!) a miracle is at work in my life and I will soon be able to fly! I love those days where I experience the butterfly in my life! The ability to fly above all the mundane earthy matters and remember the truth and experience God's power in tangible ways in my life are wonderful times indeed that occur more and more often as I continue this journey! Thank you, God!

If you are so inclined, I invite you to journey with me as we seek the promised land together. While I hope to share some "faithbooking" (scrapbook pages or artistic journaling about my faith journey), much of the time the journey may well be seen in words, rather than pictures. I invite you to create your own pictures. How do these things play out in your life? I'd love to hear from you about your own spiritual journey!

Sunday, August 6, 2017

Fearless!!!!


It seems like forever since I posted on this blog.  I tend to not think about posting when I don't have to have a picture to go with the message!!!! Anyway, today I DO have a picture, though it's mostly words and those may be a bit challenging to actually see in this photo.  But here's the story behind the picture. 

The focus for this page is 1 John 4:18 "There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear because fear involves torment." (NKJV) This is something God's been bringing to my attention.  Though I hadn't really realized it until recently, I've had a tendency to live with a low (medium???!) level of anxiety as my natural state - and that is NOT His plan for me!!! He wants to give me freedom from even that low level of fear that has been tormenting me!!! 

I am so grateful that His choice for me is a life of freedom from tormenting fear - a life of love, joy, and peace!!!  But He's been showing me that I haven't been accepting the whole of that gift from him.  As he relieves major fears, I have been content to settle back into my "natural" state of low-level anxiety instead of letting Him remove it ALL!!!!  

One of the things that has helped me visualize this is work that I've been doing, with the help of a specialist, to relieve pain in my physical body.  She explained to me that due to stress in our lives (physical trauma, emotional tension, etc), we tend to live with a constant level of stress.  She drew a line and numbered it 0 at one end and 100 at the other.  She said this is a picture of our muscles - they can be firing at 100%, or they can be completely relaxed at 0% or somewhere in between.  Then she said that often, our brain has become so used to our carrying a certain amount of stress, that it comes to believe that 20% firing of a muscle is as much as it is possible to relax.  Part of my work with her is to re-train my brain to realize that it can actually relax the muscle farther than that!

For me this has been a great visual for my relationship with nervousness and anxiety (other words for fear!).  I have become so used to living with a certain amount of nervousness or anxiety that I've seen that as normal.  But God offers to remove ALL of it and replace it with His Spirit!

2 Timothy 1:7 reminds me, "For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline."  (ISV) 

Suddenly I find myself understanding the story of Mary & Martha (as told in Luke 10:39-42) much better.  I'll admit that I've struggled with this story.  I can REALLY relate to Martha who is trying to get food on the table while everyone else is relaxing and enjoying their time with Jesus. She's feeling a bit resentful that her sister isn't helping her and speaks to Jesus about it.  But Jesus gently tells her, "Martha, Martha!  You worry and fuss about a lot of things.  But there is only one thing you need.  Mary has chosen what is better, and it is not to be taken away from her." (ISV - emphasis mine).  Other versions use words like: anxious, bothered, troubled, distracted, upset.  THIS is the real issue here.  It's not about making dinner - it's about allowing anxiety to distract us and drain our energy so we aren't able to move forward with 100% focus on anything.  THIS is what God is speaking to me about. 

He's promised that His perfect love casts out fear - ALL of it, if I will let it!!! Thank you, Father!!! What a wonderful promise!  I choose this.  Please cast out ALL fear and replace it with your spirit of POWER, LOVE, and SELF-DISCIPLINE.  I don't know how to do this for myself, but I know I don't have to know how.  You are doing it FOR me.  I just have to allow you FULL access to change my life!  Father, I am so looking forward to experiencing life from this new perspective.  To face new challenges and opportunities with excitement and joy instead of nervous trepidation.  What a concept!  Thank you, Father, for doing this work in me and for your promise that the work you've begun in me you will see to completion.  You've got your work cut out for you, but I know YOU can do it!  Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!!     

1 comment:

Esther said...

I'm glad to see you posting again! A lot of food for thought here.

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This blog is simply a sharing of my "daily bread" - my daily walk with God. If something I've said has touched your heart, or sparked a new thought, I'd love to hear from you.

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