"Trust in the Lord with all thine heart, and lean not into thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths." - Proverbs 3:5-6
Within the past week, I have: 1) cut my bangs short for the first time since I was little, and 2) painted my finger nails bright yellow. These may seem like small, insignificant tasks, but I have been wrestling with these choices for months. The decisions seemed to haunt me as I went through my week for a while there.
Millions of questions were swimming around in my head while I tried to pick. What if my bangs looks stupid? What if I look like Dora? What if I look like I'm five years old? What if I hate them? Will they grow out fast enough? Will they be in my face all the time? What if people make fun of them? What if people laugh at my yellow finger nails? What if people talk about them behind my back? Will people think they are weird? What if I think they look good, but everyone else thinks they are dumb?
In all honesty, I was absolutely terrified. Terrified of what everyone else would think of me, of what they would say about me when I wasn't there. Scared that I would immediately regret my decision and never be able to fix my mistakes. I thought that I would completely ruin my life forever if I made the wrong choice. Even the night before my appointment, I was so scared to the point of almost cancelling. Truth be told, it sounds really dumb when I write it out. Haha!
If we're all being honest here, I let my fears become so big that they hindered me and distracted me from completely trusting Christ.
Anxiety is 100% what caused these fears. 2 Timothy 1:7 says, "For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind." Fear comes directly from the Devil, and he gives us this fear to keep us from fully trusting and obeying Christ. Thankfully, God reminds us throughout His word that we can do anything with Him by our side (Philippians 4:13).
"Say to those who have an anxious heart, "Be strong; fear not! Behold, your God will come with vengeance, with the recompense of God. He will come and save you."" - Isaiah 35:4
"Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." - Matthew 6:34
"Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the LORD your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you." - Deuteronomy 31:6
An important note to make is this: fear will never leave you. Satan will never stop trying to make you scared or plant any little seed of doubt in your mind that he can. There will always be times where you feel uncertain, or that you are scared of what might happen. It seems a bit silly now to pray for fear to leave you, or for you not to be tempted by doubt.
However, there is nothing silly about praying for the ability to overcome these doubts and temptations with Christ by your side. Philippians 4:13 says, "I can do all things through Christ, which strengthens me." ALL is a pretty strong word, and it definitely includes overcoming fear.
My challenge for you is this: instead of praying for fear to leave you alone, pray for strength and courage. Pray for the ability to push away those fears and doubts and to lean on God when you get scared or intimidated.
Image Source: https://unsplash.com/search/pink-roses?photo=HjTd4GUoyJs
