God Says... "I have not given you a spirit of fear."

By Dusty (Reflections on the Life of a Christian)

I have been afraid of a lot of things in my life. They range from the common to the unusual. Some fears cripple while others nag. Every one of them has kept me from doing or enjoying something in my life.

I believe most everyone has suffered from such fears. While some may deny it or hide it, everyone is afraid of something. Here is a list of common fears:

• Disappointment
• Failure
• Ridicule
• Rejection
• Injury/Death
• Unknown
• Abandonment

None of those have ever applied to you? Are you sure?

Well then, maybe I am the oddball (but I think not!) because I can think of a lot of instances where I suffered from one or more of those. For a guy, a lot of them might come into play when seeing a girl we like and wanting to ask them out. For a child, they may surface in their desire to please their parents or other authority figures. But fear is not limited to gender relations or age.

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God Says...

By Ginny (MAD21)

Awhile back, I was discussing topic ideas with the guys who have been writing for my series on Mondays. We had started organizing one of the ideas but stopped when Jay came across a fabulous article on faith by Donald Borsch, Jr. called, "Sonship: The Reality of Faith." After reading his post and seeing the "God Says" list he included, we decided we wanted to expand on what he shared, by making his list (and a few more we added) the topic for our next series.

We are told in 1 Corinthians 13:1-3 that even if we can do all kinds of amazing things, if we do them without love it means nothing. The lesson here is obvious. But when preparing for this series, I read: "if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing." I wondered... what if you love, but you lack faith? What happens when you've been beaten down by a situation so far, for so long that you really begin to question how strong your faith is?

We have all been there. That place of doubt.

"I'm not good enough."

   "It's impossible."

      "I can't."

         "I'm afraid."

            "I can't resist."

               "I can't forgive."

                  "I want."

                     "I feel all alone."

Many of us put on a good face no matter what we are going through in our lives. I think for the most part we all just "go with the flow" and deal with things as they come along. But there are those times when doubt, or a lack of faith, get the best of us. It can last for a moment, a day, or much, much longer. It's for those times that we must prepare ourselves. We must work hard to build our faith before it's tested, before we face the challenges. If we can build that strong foundation, it won't matter what comes our way. Because with faith comes it's companion: hope.

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Silly Fears -- No, Really.

By Mallory 

Carla: The reason I don’t touch the seat when I go to the bathroom isn’t because of germs, but because I’m afraid of toilet snakes.

Elliot: And now so am I.

- Scrubs

For anyone growing up, nervousness and fear regarding the future and the ‘real world’ seem normal. But I know a lot of my fears are unhealthy. While life will always continue to get more complex, I sometimes treat the future like it contains way too much doom and gloom. But as I try to find peace about my more serious fears, I’ve noticed I have a lot of irrational fears, too. Here’s a list of some of them. All of these have crossed my mind at one point or another, but you’ll see that they’re really not too serious.

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