Surrendering Fear – Is It Really Possible?
~ What do you think? Is surrendering fear really possible? Today I’m sharing the keys I learned from Matthew 19:26 and Lara Casey’s book: Make It Happen. ~
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It appears that some people have it all figured out. Maybe they were born with the personality to fearlessly get all the things done. Oh to juggle flaming torches without dropping a one! Something always seems to tumble when I attempt that. Not a pretty picture.
But – and I’m so glad there’s a but here – what we usually come to find out, is that in reality it took years to get to where they are now. They weren’t born that way.
It took many failed attempts plus lots of changing and tweaking. Most likely a boatload of humility-building changes.
We see the end product – they’ve got it all together – and we forget all the work it took to get there.
Our Fear Verse Project came to mind while I was reading Make It Happen by Lara Casey. Notice the book’s subtitle: Surrender Your Fear, Take the Leap, Live On Purpose.
Sounds good, right?
Gotta admit – I am usually a bit skeptical when people wrap the flaming torches in a neat package like that. But my sweet daughter-in-law gave me this book and you better believe I was going to put it on the top of my TBR pile! Her book recommendations have yet to disappoint.
Lara Casey seems put-together and fearless (just check out her website), but you know what? Her book reveals it took years and a fair amount of humility-building work to get there!
Do I want to get rid of my fears overnight without all the work to get there?
The humility-building work?
Hmmm.
That thought swirled in my mind the whole time I went to town reading this book.
Yep, I liked it!
And yes, I’m about to share her fresh perspective with you! Mostly the eye-opening part about surrendering fear.
Lara is very open and shares stories of her life – her friends and family, her successes and failures, her good choices and bad – and the behind the scenes.
Turns out fear played a big part in many of her early choices.
She starts with, “Fear and I know each other well. We have spent holidays, summers, and long vacations together. We go way back. Fear is a strange thing, though, because it’s not a thing. It’s not something we can touch or pick up and remove from ourselves, though we would trade just about anything to do that, wouldn’t we?”
So instead, she suggests we answer these questions …
What if I wasn’t driven by fear anymore?
How would I feel?
What would I do?
What if fear didn’t hold me back?
Imagine what life would be like if I exchanged my fear for faith.
What would I be able to do?
How many people could be changed for the better?
She reminds us – and this is huge – “Friend, what feels impossible is possible, even if everything in your life is telling you otherwise right now.”
Even if!
Matthew 19:26: But Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”
Lara explains that she had trouble getting the self-defeating thoughts to stop.
Then she read …
2 Corinthians 5:17: Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.
She wanted to be made completely new so badly that she was determined to do whatever it took to get there.
Little by little, God helped her replace the lies she had believed with truths in His Word.
But it wasn’t easy by any means.
She admits, “I was still hesitant. Part of me wanted to continue believing the lies because they meant I didn’t have to try to be anything. I could hide. But God wired us to be something for Him. Not for our own gain or praise, but all for Him. The restlessness you may feel is there for a reason, calling you to step into the truth. For me, it was time to break free. But how? I thought it was impossible to change, and then I read: ‘With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.’ What if I started to believe all the verses I was reading in the Bible?”
What if we started to believe …
Philippians 4:13: I can do all things through him who strengthens me.
Then she had this amazing insight: “Being humbled is where change starts. There is a moment when we are given a choice: let our egos run the show, or surrender our fears and be humbled. The latter is how we make it happen.”
Hence the title of the book.
And that eye-opening part I mentioned earlier?
This is worth reading a few times over …
“My self-imposed limitations had me stuck in disbelief. How many times have you accepted defeat before even trying? We are so quick to limit ourselves, deciding who we are and who we aren’t and that’s it. We define our identities – our strengths, weaknesses, likes, dislikes, and beliefs – but this rigid defining can hinder us from seeing the potential that God sees. We stay in our identity boxes, not allowing ourselves to be stretched or challenged. We accept the world’s made-up rules for who we are supposed to be, and we believe we cannot break those rules. Humility creates an opportunity for strength when we choose to step outside our identity boxes and believe in possibilities not yet seen.”
I have given you a small taste of the wisdom in this book. The last section is called “Your Guide to Make it Happen” and it will do just that – guide you through the tough questions to inspire change.
But if you’re still not sure that changing your fear is possible, I’ll leave you with one last quote for the road …
“True or false: ‘Follow your heart’ is a verse from the Bible.
False. God doesn’t want us to follow our feelings. He wants us to be still with our feelings and see if they align with His heart. If they don’t, they can lead us astray. When it comes to our faith, we must choose trust over feelings. There are many times we cannot feel God working, but we can trust that He is. We may not feel loved by God, but we can trust that His love never changes. Feelings aren’t the enemy though; they are opportunities to draw closer to God and learn His wisdom. The more we come to God with our feelings and ask, “What do I do with this?” the more He brings our emotions in line with His heart. And the more we align our hearts with His, the bigger our faith becomes, leading us to be able to take bold leaps forward without fear.”
Lara Casey has a brand new book titled Cultivate and I am definitely adding it to my TBR list!
*My prayer for you is … that this blog will inspire you to open your Bible every single day to seek God’s face and write His Word on your heart – because HE’S the key to lasting heart change!
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