HEROES OF ADVENT SERIES - NUMBER ONE - ISAIAH

SAY "NO" TO FEAR

Say to those whose hearts are frightened: Be strong! Fear not!

Isaiah 35:4-7a

I have spoken these words from Isaiah the Prophet to myself for most of my life because fear has had a tendency to rule my life. Battling it is still part of my everyday life! When Isaiah first spoke these words to the people of tiny kingdom of Judah, they were basically surrounded by the powerful Assyrian empire which was swallowing up all their town surrounding Jerusalem. Even in the face of imminent destruction, the Prophet calls the people to face their fears and to know that, in the end, God’s faithfulness to them would triumph, even if they face collapse and captivity by their enemies.  “Be strong! Fear not!”  

It still happens after all these years. I get on a plane by myself heading out to some far-flung diocese to face hundreds of priests and realize that I am overcome with fear and doubt – fear of rejection and doubt about my capabilities.

Even though I haven’t had a disaster yet, on the contrary appreciative acceptance, I have to talk myself up and my demons down every time I take off on another speaking trip.  I can still remember being paralyzed by the same fear and doubt before opening the box my first published book arrived in – fear of rejection and doubt about my ability.

I have come to believe that many never become all they could be because of two things. (1) They are intimidated by the judging voices of others. (2) They are intimidated by their own self-doubting voice.  Both voices say basically the same thing. “Who are you to do such and such? Who do you think you are, anyway?   These demons must be slain or we will end up “settling” for a life marked by dullness. Angelina Jolie said this, “If you ask people what they've always wanted to do, most people haven't done it. That breaks my heart.”

The secret is to face your fears, stand up to your own cowardice and do hard things for your own good. What I have learned from years of doing that is that you end up amazed at the great things that can happen to you, if you do!

Another thing I have learned is that it takes an amazing amount of concentration of the will to overcome embedded negative messages from childhood, but with dedicated practice it is indeed possible. I believe I am where I am today because of my determination to not allow fear and doubt control me. I am very happy that I learned how to do that!  

The third thing I have learned is that there is wisdom out there about overcoming fear and self-doubt that others can share with us. As you know, I collect motivational quotes and I regularly share some of my favorites on this subject in hopes that you can learn from them as well.

Fear probably defeats more people than any other one thing in the world. I once read that F-E-A-R stands for “fantasy events appearing real.” I read somewhere else that, statistically, about 90% of the things we worry about never happen, so Jesus was right, fear is useless, what is needed is trust. How we handle fear determines whether we experience adventure or whether we are limited by the fear of it. Without scary, we don’t get to be brave!

I would say that my life has been enriched every time I have gotten up the guts to look fear in the face and say “No, you are not going to run my life! I may fail, I may get hurt, I may be laughed at, but again I might not, so be gone!”

Friends! These words are spoke to you as well! ‘Be strong! Fear not!”  Do not listen to the discounting voices of those who do not believe in you! Do not listen to that discounting voice in your own head that does not believe in you! Tell them both to shut up and listen instead to God’s voice in your own heart – that tiny whispering voice that gets drowned out in the noise of the world – that tiny whispering voice that you may not be able to hear because of the noisy, negative self-talk that goes on in your own head – that tiny whispering voice of God who is telling you not to fear, but to be strong! Take it from one who has been there! God has great plans for you – he wants to take you to places who cannot even imagine for yourself! Do not let fear hold you back from becoming who you really can be! Henry Ford may have said it best when he said, “Those who think they can and those who think they can’t are both right!