Devotionals for the Heart: Fear Not!

Fear Not!
A devotional by Ginger Solomon

“But when I am afraid, I will put my trust in you.
I praise God for what he has promised.
I trust in God, so why should I be afraid?
What can mere mortals do to me?”
~Psalm 56:3-4 (NLT)

I’ve been dealing with a lot of fear lately. I’m not sure why. Crazy hormones? Bad eating habits? Too much stress? A teen with a learner’s license?

Two years ago, I also dealt with fear, but then I had a specific reason. I was facing brain surgery. My neurosurgeon was confident in his abilities, but any little thing could have gone wrong and caused my death.

At the time, I took out a notebook and searched for verses about fear. I wrote a bunch of them down. Not every verse applied to me, but many did. And God buoyed my faith in Him at that critical time.

Today, I struggle.

And, sadly, I have not yet overcome. I wallow instead of praying. *Shrug* What can I say? I’m human. I forget God’s promises.

I’m sure you’ve heard, but I’ll tell you again, in case you didn’t know and to remind myself. “Fear not” is in the Bible 365 times. (Someone else says 366 to account for leap year, but I didn’t check it out.) Every day, God has given us a verse to fight against the fear.

And yet, here I am, living my life afraid.

What am I afraid of? In essence, it boils down to one thing—getting hurt. I don’t like to be in pain. But then who does? And I find this utterly amusing because for the last seven years, I have lived with chronic back pain.

I’m not afraid of heights. I’m afraid of falling, or more accurately, of landing. I’m not afraid of cars. I’m afraid of car accidents (people are crazy drivers). I’m not afraid of writing stories. I’m afraid of disappointing God by not writing the right story. Do you see where I’m going?

But my fear is holding me back. And, more importantly, it’s starting to affect my family.

I’ve taught five children to drive (that’s scary, in and of itself). I should have this whole sitting in the passenger seat down, but I don’t. I still get nervous. My inexperienced child is behind the wheel of a four-thousand-pound vehicle. And there are IDIOTS on the streets (and no, I don’t apologize for that word because it is absolutely accurate). Anything could happen.

And therein lies the rub.

I’m scared of what could happen. It steals my joy of the right now. It makes my child think I don’t trust his driving abilities, and really, it’s not him so much as it is what the other people are doing.

What I need to remember, and yes, I’m still working on it, is that GOD is in control. My fear is in direct opposition to trusting Him. If I trusted Him like I should, I don’t need to be afraid.

I learned that lesson during the month before my surgery. I trusted Him like I never had before. It was a supernatural faith. And I want it back. I want to look at life through the lens of faith.

My Prayer: Dear God, whatever comes my way today, help me have faith. Help me to trust in Your divine plan and if pain is a part of that plan then help me rely on You to get through it.

~*~
Author Bio:

Ginger Solomon is a Christian, a wife, a mother to seven, and a writer—in that order (mostly).

She writes or reads inspirational romance of any genre, and if she’s busy homeschooling, doing laundry, or fixing dinner, books are on her mind.

She’s a member of American Christian Fiction Writers (ACFW), president of her local writing group, and blogs regularly for InspyRomance.com and at gingersolomon.com.