But there are some fears that are debilitating and keep us from reaching our full potential. For most of my life, I let those fears dictate my decisions. It kept me from realizing goals and living the abundant life Jesus promised us.
Some of those fears include my writing. “What if” is one of my favorite questions as a writer, but “what if” can also be very daunting.
“What if no one likes my work?”
“What if I make someone mad?”
“What if I fall flat on my face?”
“Who wants to read what I have to say?”
I have come to realize that the answer to each of these fears is a most obvious,
“Who cares?”
There is only one person I need to worry about. That person loves me more than anyone ever could, even more than my husband John; and John loves me like no one on earth ever has or ever will be able to. I am loved by God. If I focus on him, all these other questions will be answered.
If someone doesn’t like me for what I have written, they probably really didn’t like me in the first place. If I make someone mad, they didn’t have to read what I wrote, because most people know I’m a Christian and have the choice to read the work or not. What if I fall flat on my face? Then I pick myself up, brush myself off and get up and do it again (amen). I have also come to realize that failure is my friend and like Edison, I didn’t fail, I just found out one more way it doesn’t work. Truthfully the odds are in my favor. Eventually, as with my work The Death of Kevin Frye, I will find an audience. And who wants to read what I have to say? Ah, that question doesn’t even need an answer. I am to write anyway.
I don’t know if Carol King realized how spiritual the song she wrote, Way Over Yonder, is, but it’s a song that reflects the longing most people have for something better. There are a few words I have changed when I sing this song, and when I close my eyes, I see the Garden of God where I will be some day. It’s a beautiful place, a place where fears are left behind. Until that day, I will have my fears that I have to over come, but over coming fears and realizing goals makes me a stronger person.
God told Abraham to sacrifice his son, the son of promise. I’m sure Abraham didn’t understand it and it probably took him awhile to realize it wasn’t just his imagination, but he trusted God and did as he was instructed. I’m sure he didn’t tell Sarah, but that’s another topic.
So Abraham took a journey to a place with the son he loved, thinking it was the last time and wondering what God could mean by telling him to kill the promise. Paul tells us that Abraham must have known that God would raise Isaac from the dead.
Finally the terrible moment came and just as Abraham was about to kill his son, the angel of the Lord stopped him. Then Abraham looked and saw a ram caught by its horns in the thicket. Abraham killed the ram in Isaac’s place thereby giving a picture to us of what Jesus would do thousands of years later.
So the answer to our fears is always, as Abraham was to say, that God will provide. The end of that story is the beginning of a hope for us all, “So Abraham called that place ‘The Lord Will Provide’. And to this day it is said, ‘On the mountain of the LORD it will be provided.’” Genesis 22:14