Fear made me ...

I have been reading a book called Fearless by Max Lucado. The basic premise is, if we were to get rid of all our fear what kind of life would we lead? This has been very thought provoking for me because over the last few years I have become quite a fearful person, here's just a few:

I am afraid of:
- the dark
- heights
- getting lost
- being seen as too talkative
- not friendly enough
- too opinionated
- not pretty enough
- not smart enough
- not nice enough
- of being a victim of crime
- of being in a car accident
- being in a plane crash
- losing a limb(s)
- becoming disfigured
- not being spiritual enough
- being too rigid in my beliefs and values
- being too loose in my beliefs and values
- not being a good enough wife
- not being a good enough mother
- people knowing that I don't cook every night of the week, or even every second night of the week
- losing control
- losing my temper
- not knowing what to do
- being seen as a child
- being seen as too serious
- not having enough fun
- being diagnosed with a terminal illness
- change
- things staying the same
- giving more than I may recieve
- letting go
- being too compliant
- tripping up or down stairs
- being left out
- being talked about behind my back
- saying the right thing
- being laughed at
- not being wanted
- being asked "so what do you do?" when my reply seems so insignificant "I'm a stay at home mum"
- getting the wrong haircut
- having hope that things can change
- being given up on by .... family, friends, etc
- getting hurt by putting myself out there to try and establish new or renew friendships
- emotionally /psychologically damaging my daughter
- Presley seriously hurting herself
- not being able to offer anything of value or worth to anyone
- BEING INVISIBLE

And trust me, these are only a few of the fears that ramble through my head. I know that some of you may read these and think 'how silly' but the reality is, we all have lists like these. Yours may not be as long, or even maybe as specific as mine but we all have fears. Sometimes our fear is simply a reminder that we are human and other times it can cripple us. Think of those who suffer from extreme fear, phobias such as spiders, snakes, heights, dying, flying, being outside, antique furniture, other people, needles, hospitals, etc, etc. The torment and the terror that their fear holds over them.

Our mind is our most powerful enemy and we must conquer it. When irrational fear strikes we must banish it, when real fear attacks we must balance it with what we know to be true: God will never forsake us. He is our rock and salvation, on Him we can depend. The Lord is our hope and our defender.

I have a long way to go before I can say that I am fearless but for now I will say this, I am slowly learning to put my fears aside and take hold of the life that God has given me, to become the woman He created me to be.