Read (from the New Living Translation)

²⁷ “I am leaving you with a gift—peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So don’t be troubled or afraid.”

John 14:27

¹⁸ Such love has no fear, because perfect love expels all fear. If we are afraid, it is for fear of punishment, and this shows that we have not fully experienced his perfect love.

1 John 4:18

Go Deep

Today, Betty Rock from The Wally Show opens up about anxiety and how God is ripping it out at the root and replacing it with truth.

Isn’t it funny how we tend to be able to trust God with the big things, like our salvation, but when it comes to the small, minute situations in life, that tends to be harder to let go of?

When I was twenty-five I had started full time at WAY-FM. I was excited because radio had been my dream and now I couldn’t wait to see how God was going to use me in a mighty way. Not too long after that, I was knocked for a loop when my heart started palpitating. If you’ve ever experienced a heart palpitation, you know what I’m talking about. It’s scary stuff.

It feels like a skipped heart beat that takes your breath away. That was my situation. I had no idea what was going on and, since I had no control, my anxiety started to kick in and make the situation much worse than it really was.

After a visit to the emergency room a couple days later, I was told I needed to lay off the chocolate and coffee because my body wasn’t able to handle all the caffeine in my system and the stress it was creating. It was overloaded.

I’d like to tell you that after my doctor visit, I wasn’t scared anymore. I’d like to say that I moved on with my life and never looked back. That was not the case though.

That situation opened a huge door that Satan was able to come barreling through. Satan had gotten a hold of me and filled me with fear of the “what if’s” when it came to my health and future. That fear, anxiety, and stress would feed on a distrust in God.

I would question my doctor’s opinion. I would wonder if she missed something. It was a never-ending battle of fear feeding fear.

That fear of course brought on more health problems. After many stress-filled nights and prayers to God, I started to see where I had a choice to make. I could either choose Christ and let Him bring about something good from this situation or I could wallow in self-pity and fear, trying to take control of a situation I never had control of to begin with.

I chose to start listening to what Christ was trying to teach me.

Just like He promises in Romans 8:28, He was wanting to take a bad situation and turn it into something good. I found out that:

By choosing fear, I wasn’t able to live the life full of peace and joy God intended for me and He was ready for me to get moving on it.

Honestly, I’m blown away that God cared enough to show me what areas I needed to work on in my life to make it how He intended. I have to be honest with you though; despite it all,

I have to daily make that decision to choose Christ over my fear.

I still haven’t gotten this lesson down pat.

There are times where a certain part of my future will start to worry me because I can’t figure out the end. I start to wonder if I can really trust God to handle it all.

Giving up control is something I’m continually having to lay down at the feet of Jesus. On those not so good days I have to remember the promises of God. The truth is, by submitting my life to His will, He’ll take this burden I can’t bear and lay it on His own shoulders. Only then will I be able to experience the peace and joy He’s promised all along in John 14:27.

The truth is, everything good in my life is a complete blessing from God that I do not deserve. I have the best parents a girl could ask for, friends that are like a second family to me, health that keeps me capable of doing the work of Christ, and a loving Savior that I’ve done nothing to earn the affection of.

With evidence like this, why should I question His love?

Sadly I still do. But on days like that, I’m thankful for His mercies that are new every morning. I know He’ll always accept me in love despite my skepticism and be willing to take on my burden and replace it with His easy and light one.

By realizing what great love He has for me, I’m able to realize what 1 John 4:18 says, “Perfect love casts out fear.”

Notes from the Beyond Suffering Bible

The Answer to Fear – Suffering, especially when it is acute or prolonged, can make us susceptible to fear. The answer to such fear is to remind ourselves of who we are in Christ: dearly loved children of God. When we are sure of who we are and to whom we belong, we can rest in “God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand” (Phil 4:7).

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