I crawled into bed and slipped under a blanket of fear. My husband was out of town for work, and I was afraid to go to sleep. Fear had become a constant companion during his nights away.
Knowing I needed to trust God, I went through the motions of what good Christians do: I prayed, read Scripture and taped Bible verses on sticky notes to my lamp and bedside. But then I also put a phone under my pillow and a neighborhood directory beside my bed.
The next night, I took it a step further by putting toys on the stairs — to trip possible burglars. I brought my children into my room to sleep there as well, and moved the dresser in front of our bedroom door.
Although I thought I was controlling my circumstances, fear had taken control of me. Frustrated that I still couldn’t sleep, I opened the Bible and read a familiar passage:
“‘Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze’” (Isaiah 43:1b-2).
As I read each word slowly, God showed me something I’d never seen: My fears were like flames and my efforts to protect myself were like gasoline. Every attempt to ease my fears was like dousing fuel on the fire, and now it was consuming me.
Gently, the Holy Spirit reminded me that God had not given me a spirit of fear but a spirit “of power and of love and of a sound mind” (2 Timothy 1:7b, NKJV).
Suddenly I knew the only way to overcome my fear was to walk in faith through what I feared the most. I had to put away the props in which I’d placed my faith and go to bed trusting God, realizing that even if my fears came true, He would be with me.
I crawled out of bed and put everything away. The dresser went back in place. My kids went back to their rooms and I went to sleep without my phone under my pillow. And that night, I slept better than I had in weeks!
Fear loses its power when we actively trust God more than what we fear. {Tweet}
Let’s ask the Lord to show us today what we’re afraid. What could be paralyzing your faith, and keeping you from living confidently in His peace and freedom? And let’s be brave enough to give God a chance to come though for us by taking one small step of faith in that area where we’re most afraid.
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What small step of faith could you take to walk away from or through one of your fears today?
Share your thoughts below and ENTER TO WIN the audio version of A Confident Heart! ChristianAudio invited me to do the reading, so you’ll actually hear me telling the stories and sharing the teachings when you listen to it. And I’m so excited to give one to two of you that enter to win!
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I have a fear of an odd thing. I am afraid to call my Mom. I am over 50 and she still has the power to frighten me and manipulate me. For 1&1/2 years I was not allowed to call them. Now I can call and she will talk to me, but it is so much work for me to do it. I have tried to set a day of when I will call, but it makes me so anxious and fearful. Some weeks I can do it, and others I do not and then feel guilty for not doing it. I have been praying and seeking guidance and counseling for this issue, but it is hard to recover from the psychological abuse of my past with her.
Leaning on Jesus when I am afraid helps me to push my fears aside. I would love to reinforce this habit by hearing what you have to say in the “A Confident Heart” audio book 🙂 Have a blessed day!
I am so fearful for my children, they are adults but I worry so much about them. I try to give my burdens to God and trust He will take care of them, but it is so hard! I love my boys so much, I want all good things for them.
Thank you for your timely message! My current circumstances are full of uncertainty and the longer this season has gone on the more I fear that it will never end. My fear allows so many negative thoughts and lies to drown out God’s Word and truth. Today I will aim to combat my fears and thoughts with God’s Word of true. When they arise I will find scripture and use that scripture to pray. I will not allow my fears to paralyze me to inaction. I will do what I can and trust God to fill in the gaps especially when the gaps are so big and seem impossible to fill. In the power of Jesus Name may my fear subside as I walk in faith and peace.
What a timely devotional. Fear is something that I struggle with daily & have let it guide me instead of trusting God the way I should. My prayer is to operate out of faith & not out of fear. Thank you for this devotional.
I would like a copy of the book as well. I am in a phase in my life when I have a lot of new things happening. I find the devil is fighting the process and using fear as a tactic. I would like to know how to eliminate any insecurities and doubt from my life. Thank you for the devotional it helped this morning.
2 Timothy 1:7 is one of my favorite scriptures. Amen.
These are some of the things I used to do when my husband wasn’t home. It’s been years since he’s had to be out of town. I’m thinking this is a reminder to NOT fear because that dreaded time is upon us again. My husband will be gone for a week. In God I will trust
This was me! Exchange the toys for extra locks and add an emergency key pad to the list. Honestly, I still have my moments because of past experiences. What helps me get through fear in any area is knowing that if “it”, whatever that may be, does happen,it’s because God allowed it. Knowing that gives me hope not of this world that just like the storm in the boat with the disciples, He has full power and control to manipulate all things! That gives me great joy and pushes out all doubt and fear which allows me to, just like Jesus did in that storm, to REST… rest in Him!
I love how God totally confirms (through your honesty) what He has been literally screaming to me for weeks now. He is doing incredible works in my life as I let go of a crippling fear that has plagued my family for generations. I know He has called me to change the course and legacy of who my family is by making me different, healed, and confident, but the enemy tends to work himself into my brain sometimes. Thank you for sharing your story. I know your book would only further solidify the freedom God has been granting me to move forward onto a better, more prosperous and fulfilling life.
i think we all suffer from some measure of fear. I know i definitely do. My biggest is the fear of failure. I fear that I will pour my heart and soul into something and in the end ultimately fail at it. My husband and I are in the process of reconciling our marriage of 12 years after a 9year separation. We both have a child outside of our daughter together. It is very scary because the only memories that I have from our marriage are from early on. And of course we had some great time but it always seem the worst ones sick out the most. We love each other so much that I have no doubt, but is love enough? Although the Lord has told and shown me that He can and will give me what I long for which is for my husband and my marriage to be restored but I’m very much afraid that it will fail yet again. Mostly i’m afraid that I will mess it up. I’ve changed alot over the years and God has had so much to do with that and He’s still working on me, but I’m afraid that that old me will somehow find a way to creep out and show up. It’s so scary to totally trust God when it shouldn’t be. Because He told us that ALL things work together for our good. But how do we just close our eyes, let go, and let God? God has never failed me before so why is it so hard for me to trust Him? Why is it so hard for me to relinquish total control to Him who holds my future in His hands? Fear. Fear of not knowing the outcome. Fear of thinking if we can control the outcome it’ll make things easier. I’m actually feeling silly typing this because I know better. God has done way too much for me and has shown up for me in my life way too many times for me not to trust Him. I refuse to allow fear to paralyze me in my home, in my relationship, in my business and in my ministry. It’s just not worth it. i sure needed this. Thank you Renee
Thank you for this timely reminder. Having severe anxiety, it is a daily fight on every hand. I must remember to trust the Lord in EVERYTHING I do. Thank you again.
I could fill up your blog with fears!! Whenever my husband is away or I have to go somewhere for work, I am afraid. I’ve been known to put a chair against a hotel room, the ironing board across that and rig the iron to hit someone in the head if they came into the room!! It’s my inner fears that grip me the most because those are in my heart and mind. Those types of fears run through my daily life. What I need to do is put my faith into action by trusting God’s Word. He has never left me or forsaken me and his Word says He never will!! I need to look back more often and think about the times I was most afraid and how God brought me through, staying with me and His comfort soothed my soul.
One of the most devastating and paralyzingly outcomes from a childhood riddled with heinous abuse is fear and distrust. Distrust in nearly everyone who comes your way, Godly people included. Ashamedly, even fear and distrust in God. My life has been controlled by this fear and has isolated me from others but more profoundly has isolated me from God. To where I want to trust God and yet something within me prevents it. Fear of being hurt, of God not protecting me from the abuse. Recently a long lost relative has connected with me. I am fearful of this person hurting me, distrusting them. Not a physical harming, but an emotional harming. I’ve been wrestling with this and feel drawn to maybe not let this gripping fear get in the way….to try and trust this relative. So frightening!
Praying for you Sunny!!
*sorry “a confident heart”.
yeah! I struggle with fear in big decisions of life and even Lil things like starting a conversation with somebody or just anything I could start in fear..would be a blessed to have a copy of the confident woman.thanks God bless.
Oh me oh my! what an on time lesson, I have ways struggled with fear but it greatly increased one night when a 15 year old threatened me with a knife in the driveway of McDonald’s he took my car and phone. What scared me the most was my three year old was with me and at the time I was 6 months pregnant. For so long I asked God over and over ” I TRUSTED YOU SO MUCH WHY DID YOU LET THIS HAPPEN” Now I’m so scared of what could happen because I never thought that something like that could or ever would happen to me, but little by little I can feel God calling me through whispers of love to trust him with everything. My small step of faith is to trust, simply just trust, in my Jesus the savior of the world. In the midst of my chaos I will trust in him. Amen
Turn the situation over to God completely and don’t take it back from him. That’s like telling God, I don’t think you got this so let me have it back so I can handle it. And that more times than I like to admit gets me into trouble. God’s plans are better than mine and always will be because he sees the whole picture and all I can see is what is right in front of me. This is a hard lesson for me to learn and I still haven’t even coome close to mastering it. God is working all things out for good and he knows the plans he has for me. I just have to be willing to trust him and let him be God, because he can bring more good out of any situation than I could.
This devo on fear could not have come at a better time. Dealing with having a thief on our street last night and having gotten better with fear the thief set me back. I so appreciate the transparency about the dresser because I started to unreasonably decide where my kiddos would be sleeping tonight. Feeling anxious and angry all at the same time. The verse was an answer to a prayer I had prayed today about God calling me by name. What a good God we serve.
I am going through a difficult time in my life right now. My husband just got sent to prison for 25 years for a crime he says he didn’t commit. He is a very godly man, who doesn’t belong in there. I pray that God protects him during this time. He was the sole provider for our family so my two young kids and I are living with my parents now. One small step of faith I can take to get my through this is to take one step at a time and FULLY trust God during this time. Only God can get us though this. I also feel called to write a book about my experience before and now after the Holy Spirit began to guide me, but I have no where to start. Another small step is just write down my testimony and start from there.