Find Your Rest In The Lord

3 Dec

Come, thou long expected Jesus, born to set thy people free;
from our fears and sins release us, let us find our rest in thee.

Fear can be quite immobilizing. The desire to be released from fear is something most of us have sought at one time or another in our lives. I’ve shared with you before my fears. When I was young, I was petrified of the dark. Too many things moved in the dark. There were monsters in the dark, you must understand, at least in the eyes of a child. I always insisted that my mother have a night light turned on. When my dad said that I was getting too old for a night light, I begged my mom to, at the very least, keep the bedroom door cracked open a bit so that light from the hallway would come into the room.

For some reason, once I fell asleep, I could wake up in the dark. If the house was entirely dark at that time, it would be fine. I could fall back to sleep without any problem. It was that initial foray into sleep that the dark would often confound.

My second great fear was heights. In order to best define heights, I’m talking anything over a foot. Seriously, I could not get on a stepstool without panicking. If my feet were not planted on the floor, I became very frightened. Needless to say, I was not the one to turn to if you needed someone to go up on a ladder. I would carry the ladder out for you and put it away again. I had no problem with that. However, you wouldn’t catch me on the bottom step of the ladder let alone going to the very top.

That used to anger and frustrate my dad, especially if my other brothers were not around and he needed to do something that involved getting on a ladder or stool or anything higher than, oh, let’s say, the floor. Of course, he did not have that fear so he could not see it from my perspective.

Thankfully, I have outgrown my fear of the dark and generally outgrown my fear of heights. I will do ladders and can go on roofs now though “unreasonable” heights still cause me some anxiety.

As I said earlier, to be set free from fear is something we seek. To experience something without being frightened brings joy to the heart. God can set us free from our fears and sins. All we need to do is turn to Him and ask for His help.

FAITH ACTION: Take time to spend with the Lord in prayer today, asking Him to take your fears away and to fill you with a peace that restores you.