No Fear

There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear. - 1 John 4:18

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

You must always do the thing you are afraid to do. - Eleanor Roosevelt

The only thing we have to fear is fear itself. - Franklin D. Roosevelt

A long time ago I made a rule for myself. The more afraid I feel of doing something, the more I must do it.

A few years into my marriage I had to tell my husband that there wasn't any money in our savings account, as he expected, because we were barely able to pay our bills. I was terrified. He remained calm but left for a walk right away so I knew he was upset. The next hour was incredibly tense for me. As a child I had overheard many arguments between my parents about money. Financial problems are the most commonly cited reason for divorce in America.

When he returned, to my great surprise, he apologized for leaving me to bear the burden of managing our tight finances alone. If I had given in to my fear, and tried to hide the real state of our money, I would have slowly driven a wedge between us. Because I faced my fear I learned that my husband was an even better man than I had imagined, and opened the door to positive change in our relationship.

Time after time, this kind of positive result has come from addressing my areas of fear. Because of this rule I write, I paint, my children are getting what they need in school and having fun adventures with me on their vacations. Because of this rule we bought a house in this appalling market with payments less than our rent. My automatic response to fear has become action.

At a large conference this spring, I had the opportunity for a good conversation with the woman in charge of all the volunteers. I wanted to know how she attained her position. Her answer? She decided to say yes to anything that scared her, for an entire year. It changed her life. She works for herself, is seeing success after success, and is in charge of her own life now.

Do you feel the challenge inherent in this post? How would your life change if you decided to do the things you've been afraid to do? Let's change our response to fear!