Fear and Faith
How to Stop the Fear and Feed Your Faith.
By: Raychel Chumley
Fear can make you do crazy things! Fear has so much power over you and the choices you make it is ridiculous. Fear feeds drama and chokes your faith. It leaves you do things you would never do otherwise. But, you don’t have to be a victim to fear anymore. I want to share with you four tips to stop the fear and feed your faith.
You are going to fail. You are not strong enough to do this job. You don’t have enough time to accomplish all the things you want to do. You should just sit down and shut up-nobody wants to listen to you anyway. You cannot change anyone. You are never going to make a difference. You cannot succeed at being a mother, a wife, and a business woman, all at the same time. Aren’t your children and your husband more important to you? Your marriage is far from perfect why would anyone want to listen to you? If good things are happening right now, get ready because something bad is going to happen.
Ouch! These are painful aren’t they? To tell you the truth, these are just some of the thoughts I was bombarded with last week. To say I was dealing with a bit of fear and resistance is an understatement! Last week I was in tears and ready to give up on this whole deal three weeks after launching it. It sounds silly now to even say that, but fear can cause you to do crazy things you wouldn’t normally do!
Fear is paralyzing, fear will keep you stuck, fear will cause you to trust in your own abilities, fear will cause you to miss what God has planned for you, and fear is the opposite of faith. God tells us he does not give us a spirit of fear (2 Timothy 2:7), that He will help us (Isaiah 41:13), and that He will stay beside us always (Deuteronomy 31:6). When overwhelming fears and doubts cause us to be afraid and stuck we have two options. We can feed our fear or we can feed our faith. How do you feed your faith? You feed your faith with action! You need to actively change your focus from fear to faith. Faith and fear are both
built by repetition and it is up to us to decide what we will feed and what we will starve.
Let me share with you a few tips that will help you to feed your faith and starve your fear.
- Recognize the voices for what they are- BIG, FAT LIES! These are all lies and need to be confronted with the truth-not just ignored. You cannot ignore lies they will just continue to grow until they leave you paralyzed. Look at what the Bible says about fear and learn the truth about what God says about fear. The more truth you stuff into your brain about who you are and what you are designed to be-the better able you are to defeat the lies.
- Get out of your own head- When the defeating thoughts get
overwhelming, you can easily get stuck in your own head and create all kinds of unnecessary drama. Channel your energy elsewhere! Physical activity and exercise is a great way to do this! When your energy is channeled on another activity like exercise, you won’t have time to listen to the lies in your head. - Take ACTION-Did you know procrastination is caused by fear?
Think about it! If there is something you know you need to do-do it quickly! Don’t let the fear take over. Action and faith put you in the exact opposite direction of fear. You cannot imagine what is behind the door fear is causing you to not walk through! RUN through that door and find out what is on the other side. - Reach out for help-We were not meant to be on this earth alone. It’s crazy to think we can go through life without the help of others. This kind of thinking will lead to nervous breakdowns, failing health, burnout, and failed marriages. Surround yourself
with people who build you up and believe in you. Cut out the ones who cause you to doubt yourself and be afraid. Find the things, and the people, that feed your faith and immerse yourself in them.
Dealing with fear can be overwhelming and can cause you to do crazy things! The truth is you have the choice to feed your fear or to starve it. I hope you found some encouragement today, and maybe a little courage to face those fears and lies with truth. I believe in you and I’m here to help you!
~ Raychel
~ I would love to hear your thoughts and comments please leave them below!~
