First I like to thank you joining me in the journey of living fearlessly in 2010 (and beyond). Second I want to announce the winner of the books “Fearless” and “Fear Not Promise Book” written by Max Lucado. Drum-roll…the winner is: Kim (comment # 5 on the original post from 01.01.2010) – Congrats Kim — I will contact you to get your snail-mail address 🙂
“And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.” ~ Romans 8:28 (ESV)
How can you tell a father who is facing lay-offs; a wife who’s husband left her for another woman; parents facing the death of a child, families loosing their home, chemotherapy …that everything is working out for the good? I often have a hard time comprehending what is happening. Do I question God because not everything is working out the way I think things should work out?
We all have our fears. I my personal opinion, fear in itself is not a sin, but how we handle it can send us in the wrong direction. Fear can consume us to the point that we are afraid of stepping out into life; or even worse…gambling, lying, stealing…But we don’t have to have fear consume us.
I think that we sometimes loose focus because of fear. We only see our current circumstance and don’t look at the bigger picture — the eternal picture. Take my past as an example. I feared coming to the US, leaving family and friends behind with an uncertain future (would I find work? what support would I have). Looking back though — leaving Germany was the best that could have happened to me. Removed from family and friends, God had my attention. He was waiting for me with arms wide open to put my trust in Him, not myself.
Over the next week, I would like you to look back at your past. What was the biggest step you have taken? What was your greatest fear about taken this particular step? Failure, insecurity, rejection? I would love to hear about your past fear(s) and how you have overcome it. What brought you through?
If you have a blog, please share your past with us (link below). If you don’t blog — journal and share part of your thoughts in the comment section. You can journal/blog at your own leisure; there is no deadline to answer the above questions.
Today I leave you with a quote by Max Lucado you may want to ponder:
“When fear shapes our live, safety becomes our god. When safety becomes our god, we worship the risk-free life. Can the safety-lover do anything great?…For God? For others?” ~ Source: Fearless
Living fearlessly — trusting Him with my future…
Iris, I’m so glad to link up with you on living fearlessly in 2010. I’m sure it was scary for you to leave Germany and be so far away from your family. But I’m so glad you did move here. Otherwise, I may never have met you girl. And I’m so glad to know you.
Love,
Debbie
Thanks for sharing sweetie, love you.
My biggest step was public speaking during the women’s tea last year. What a step in faith that was for me. I think I was on an emotional high for about a month. I think my greatest fear was people at church not taking me seriously. Many did not know me well, and some may have even thought “who the heck is this girl and why is she our public speaker?”
In so many ways this allowed me to live what I spoke (living beyond), but it also led to me experiencing some of the lows this last year. But God is showing me he is in control through the highs and through the lows.
Look forward to reading more my friend.
Thank you so much for this post and the opportunity to link up with you. My post today (and next Tuesday) are about this very thing. About my struggle. Thanks for sharing. Blessings, SusanD
will try to post this week. Most of my posts from 2010 have been about fear since i have labeled 2010 my Year of No Fear!!
Iris I love that quote you ended with.
Strange that one of the biggest step I ever took was when I visited your home country to spend Christmas with a friend over five years ago. I\’d never traveled alone and definitely not that far, it involved four connecting flights one 8 hrs long. My biggest fear was that I\’d miss a connection someplace where I didn\’t speak the language. I decided to do it anyway and my biggest fear came to past I missed my connection in France (thank God it was the last connection) but I actually didn\’t panic as much as I thought I would.
That experience taught me that even if my worst fear comes to pass, God is still in control and He works it all out for my good.
Thanks for this series, I needed the reminder.
I will be doing this over the next few days.
Thank you for being vulnerable and obedient.
I love the quote at the end, too.
Love you!, my friend.
Oh i didn’t realize this already started… I will try to catch up. When is the next? 🙂
Thanks for doing this iris…
This is the 1st week i joined and it blessed me to think back and see god’s hand in my life….
I could so relate with your story leaving your birthcountry….
The quotes from M.lucado frequently speaks volumes to me…
Have an blessed weekend
I made my first Living Fearless blog post 🙂
Thank you for starting this series, Iris. It has allowed me to reflect on the past year and to put into words everything I was unwilling to confront and admit to myself. Best of all it is allowing me to see just how God is working in my life right now and what I should do to make his plans and purpose more real to me.
God bless you and see you at the next post 🙂
I just recently bought the book “Fearless” and am almost finished reading it. What an awesome book! I am a gal who knows what it’s like to deal with fear. God is still helping me root out fears in my life! This is a great challenge you have started: to live fearlessly. May you be blessed as you not only challenge yourself but challenge others to live a fearless life.