We Were Not Given the Spirit of Fear

What is it, to not have a spirit of fear? Is it that we are never afraid, because that seems impossible. Or is it that when we feel fear, we rise against it. All my life I watched people around me summon amazing ideas, grand dreams, and wild plans, but almost every time I would watch the spirit of fear snatch it away. Most of the time they were well founded fears. Fears of financial ruin, or burdens that would be placed upon the family. All of these were natural fears, but it was still the spirit of fear that stopped these people from achieving all that their hearts clearly desired.

I have felt that spirit of fear, at times quite strongly, in my own life. We faced it as we moved across the country to a place we had never been. We faced it again when we sold our home that we had lived in for hardly more than a year to move again. Each time we added a new animal to the farm and underwent the learning curve that went with it, the spirit of fear lingered close. I spent a lot of time fighting back against it when I decided to turn by passion for bread making into a business. Yet, each time, we fought it back.

I have found that the more we have fought back against the spirit of fear, the less power it has. Its a funny thing the way that our personal power grows when we listen to the Spirit, and follow where we are told to go. That spirit of fear loses strength each time that we overcome an obstacle or a hardship and this is where my faith has flourished.

It is a simple thing to have faith when I am standing barefoot watching the sunrise on a perfectly crisp morning, it is another to hold that faith when I find a favorite animal has perished. It is not hard to have faith when a day at market goes well and we come home with no bread leftover, it takes trust to hold that faith when there is but one customer all day and we come home with every loaf that we baked. These are the times where fighting back the spirit of fear with the power of The Spirit is so necessary.

I wonder what all of those people could have achieved if they had leaned into The Spirit when the spirit of fear reared its ugly head and tried to cut them down. What dreams could have become reality if they had leaned into that dream instead of recoiling from it when it seemed too hard and impossible. What dream do you have? Do you want it enough to face down the spirit of fear? Lean into it, lean into The Spirit within yourself, and chase it, because we really never know who we can become unless we are willing to become it.