Good Morning. My cup is decorated with Door County Candy Cane Coffee to have a little Christmas in July. There is a thirty degree difference in the temperatures where we live from yesterday. This shot of cool weather is very much welcome.
Just as a little bit of sewerage can spoil a glass of drinking water so can a little fear can ruin the plans of many a strong person.
I was talking with a lady while waiting for some car maintenance to be done, and what I thought would be a short conversation and then watching the news on the lobby television, seemed to be her opportunity to share her life's story. She asked if I had any children and I guess my wedding ring signaled that I was married. She explained in detail that she was to be married a few years ago and that relationship was tested and failed. She experienced a dose of real hurt.
As I was drinking my waiting room coffee she went on to explain that she just was afraid to date and possibly be hurt again. I only asked one question and that was "when you were a little girl, did you dream of a big wedding and then having at least three kids?" She replied "yes! I played house and wore a kitchen towel on my head like a veil and my baby brother was the groom."
Now this lady was young enough to still have children and in my mind she seemed like a good catch for some lucky man. But the killer of all dreams man or woman's hit her and now she was paralyzed by fear of being hurt. She lost her ability to trust because of fear.
The lobby had a couple others waiting for me to respond. I offered this, and told her that her fears could be and should be given to God. I explained that trusting God with your life through Jesus Christ is the first step. If you can trust Him to keep you for eternity, you can trust Him to walk you through your fears in other things. I asked her if I could pray for her, and I think she assumed that meant when I reached the privacy of my truck or home, I would pray for her. No, that didn't plan out that way. I asked her to bow her head and pray with me quietly in the lobby for God to help her rely on Him for her battle of her fears.
Her car was finished before mine and as she left she thanked me for the prayer and said" You have given me much to think about and I promise I will do that." I invited her to come to church and as of yet I haven't seen her there. I am do for an oil change, so who knows?
Friends, Satan uses some of our tough experiences to build a temple of fear within us. And that is just what it is. A temple to him, when we give into the fear of failure, anguish or hurt. We are like a stalled automobile that needs a push to get moving. Fear is the greatest killer of all dreams.
God tells us to seek Him out and He wants to embrace our fears with us and for us,
Psalm 34:4 I sought the Lord and He answered me and delivered me from all my fears.
John 14:27 Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.
Only 160 days until Christmas!
Marty
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