By Hannah Sweet
What are you afraid of? Perhaps you're afraid of water, heights, clowns, or perhaps you're afraid of the dentist or babies. My father is afraid of water, so he doesn't swim and my mother of heights, so she avoids them. People are afraid of lots of things, but not me. I'm fearless. Growing up I was often in more trouble than out of it. I wasn't a bad child, I was just not afraid of anything, so I would often try things without working it out to the end because I didn't see danger. Growing up that translated to often doing whatever it was that took my fancy, whether I had the prerequisite skill to do so made little to no difference to me. Even now, I march forward in life, often doing things others would, and do, shake their heads at. I have little to no regard for my personal safety and still do things without thinking them through to the end. How do I have the courage to be fearless you ask? That's easy. God is always with me and my faith is in Him. Look at Psalm 118:6:
The Lord is on my side; I will not fear: what can man do unto me?
People are often confused by the word fearless. You can be scared, but that is a fleeting sentiment, that passes. To be genuinely afraid of something is a feeling that is deeply rooted within your soul. I would be lying if I said I was never scared. Scared is an emotion I am all too familiar with, but it always leaves as quickly as it comes. When I think about being fearless, I often think about Veggie Tales. Veggie Tales had a whole song about how God is bigger than the boogeyman. The song listed a bunch of things that could be scary, but it always reiterated that God was biggest, bigger than Godzilla, the monster on television, and He's bigger than the scariest fear I could imagine. I remember once I awoke from a nap to a snake in my bed, yes a literal slithery snake. I was startled. I was displeased. I was scared, but not nearly as afraid as my baby brother, who had dashed to my room upon hearing my distress. Once he had ascertained that the issue was a snake, he immediately ran the other direction, leaving me to figure it out. He did come back and catch me as I jumped over the snake and although I was scared, I wasn't afraid; and though I am not overly fond of snakes, I am not afraid of snakes. I have fallen off more things than I care to comment on and yet a fear of heights has never risen. I almost drowned in the ocean after a storm, and by all accounts I should be afraid of the sea. Yet, the sea calls to me and fills me with a sense of calm. People have hurt me, and yet, I have no trepidation about being friendly. The Lord never gives us more than we can handle. That is a fact. I believe it to my very center. Therefore all of the things that I have been presented with are things the Lord knew I could handle, and handle them I did. If God has faith I can handle whatever comes my way, would it not be a disservice to be afraid? The only person who can hold you back from being fearless is you. Believe, as the Lord believes, that you can overcome all the scary stuff. There is a song from the Broadway show, Songs for a New World, entitled "I'm Not Afraid." The singer of the song talks about the things that the people in her life are afraid of, but every time the chorus is sung she talks about how she isn't afraid of anything. Live like that, let others have their fears, but give yours to God and trust that through Him you will overcome and be fearless like me.
"I'm not afraid of anything
Be it mountains, water, dragons, dark or sky
I'm not afraid of anything
Tell me where's the challenge if you never try
So watch me fly
I'm not afraid"
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