Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Faith or Fear ?

The other afternoon we were having threats of thunderstorms in our area again. A few light showers had come through but nothing bad. My husband walked in the room where I was and asked if I had looked out the window and if I knew what the latest weather report was. I answered "No" to both questions and then looked out the window past the old barn. I saw some very ominous looking black clouds on the horizon. They had blotted out the sun entirely and looked very vicious. I felt that familiar burning knot come into my stomach! But at almost the same time I felt a peace that I know came from God. In just a little while the clouds began to roll over our house but as they got closer, they got thinner and lighter. Finally I could see a break in the clouds just over the tree line. We had a few sprinkles and a few mild gusts of wind but that was all.

I thought about my fear of the dark clouds. How tense they made me feel. And how, after all, they only held a few drops of rain and not the storms I had feared. Isn't that so typical of most people? We usually just look at what COULD happen instead of what IS happening at the present time. I have wasted so many hours of the day worrying about things that have never come to pass!


I want to stop letting fear control certain parts of my life. The Lord is helping me and some of you are praying for me in that area. I want to be able to let the following verses become a reality in my life everyday.
1 John 4: 18a, "There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear..." and
Isaiah 26: 3 "Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee."

God bless you today my friends....

Marilyn

4 comments:

HisPrincess said...

I really like that!

Isn't it funny how clouds like that here in drought stricken South Australia produce hope not fear? We don't get tornado's here, just storms so I guess that takes the fear out of it.

Thanks for visiting my blog, I love it when new people come over and say hello.

Deborah said...

Hi Marilyn, I agree with the previous commenter...if you've never experienced a tornado or other such extreme weather, you don't see clouds in the same way. I've never seen a tornado, but they are coming closer and more frequent here in Manitoba, so I can imagine that I might one day have the same fear that you have. I hope too that as you are doing, I would learn to give that fear to the Lord, and rest in him.

Joyful said...

Hi Marilyn,
EVERY TIME I hear of tornado warnings in your neck of the woods I think of you and pray for you. I know the Lord is going to give you victory in this area of your life. We all face different "tornados" - storms and fears that threaten to blow winds of anxiety and steal our trust, but we have to keep our focus on the "eye of the storm" - the center - the One who is in control of the storm - and trust Him. He does promise His 'perfect peace'. Longing to experience that myself.

Love & prayers,
Joy

Leah Adams said...

Marilyn

I am so very bad about making a tornado out of a few sprinkles in whatever area of my life is uncertain. Your post really spoke to my heart. Thank you so much.

Leah