Welcome to My Little Corner of the World

Over the last several months this has become a space where I have been able to sit down on this journey, pour a cup of coffee and sort through the pieces of my heart. As well, it has caused me to remember the value and place of laughter in my life as much as my need to communicate. And, it has become a place of community and rest during a time when my soul has been most desperate for it. Welcome to my little corner of the world. Read on and offer your own thoughts if you like.

Tuesday, February 21, 2006

Engaging Fear

A couple of posts ago I shared about a family circumstance that tied in to some things I’m currently learning about stepping into the unknown and facing fear. Today as I was reading more in The Insider, I was challenged by Jim Petersen’s thoughts on embracing fear – not just facing it or acknowledging it, but entering into it boldly. He’s speaking, of course, about fears as they pertain to moving toward people in sharing spiritual things, but it spoke to me about fear in general:

Our fears can lead us into greater sensitivity to the Holy Spirit. Following God’s leading inevitably puts us in frightening situations. He is bound to take us into things that are way over our head – into things only he can do. It has to be that way. How else would we learn about him? If we just stick to those things we could do anyway, where would the ‘God factor’ be? If we refuse to follow him into such places, we will remain spiritually impoverished. We will never mature. We can either make our fears work for us, or we can let them debilitate us. If we accept our fears, taking them to Christ, they will lead us into a more mature faith. But we will never run out of fears. There is always the smell of fear around the school of faith! (99)

Petersen links fear and faith together. That really encourages me. I think sometimes I can fall into a manner of thinking that all fear has to be eliminated before I can take that step of faith. Well, Lord, I think You’re telling me to do this. If You’ll just line out the specifics, I’ll step in that direction, knowing this is You. Sound familiar?

Again, I am thinking about those Israelites facing the Promised Land (Deut. 1-4). Whether they had gone into the land upon first arrival or 40 years later, they still had to embrace fear. One way or the other, if they wanted to experience the abundant life the Lord was promising, they had to engage fear – the activity thereof is faith. And faith is a pursuit that reflects a heart that trusts God not only with what He says, but the outcome of the unknown as well.

posted by Blythe Lane @ 4:58 PM  

5 Comments:

thanks 'blythe', I needed those words today.

By Blogger Dan, at February 21, 2006 5:13 PM  

I think I might be getting B.A.S too! The shear fact that you've made 3 posts today and I know that is scary. I wonder if our blogs are like a substitution for a spouse-a place to process and get feedback. Just a thought, maybe an excuse for my oncoming B.A.S.

By Blogger Jenni, at February 21, 2006 5:18 PM  

Joy,
Could be, could be. But it could also be just a reflection of longing for some semblance of a "connected community" too or just neading to feel "heard."

By Blogger Blythe Lane, at February 21, 2006 5:21 PM  

I feel like blogging is evidence for both the need for commmunity as a whole and a spouse. Can they both be true at the same time? Can you long for a spouse and long for community? In my limited understanding of married people, those two desires remain even after marriage--a desire for one's spouse and a desire for community beyond the spouse. I think the longing we express by needing to reflect, be heard, and experience connection/community is evidence of both longings...regardless of our "status" we need both a spouse and community beyond a spouse.

By Blogger alethea, at February 22, 2006 9:13 AM  

Alethea-I totally agree. The reflection was more of an indentification than anything. I just wondered if I had a husband if he would get a lot of my 'blog thoughts' and I wouldn't feel the need to blog about all these random musings that I have. Now that I think of it, I don't want my husband to be the only person to see this side of me. I guess I'm practicing now before the fact. If I ever get married, don't allow me to stop sharing my ideas, reflections, etc...with you all if it is on a blog or over coffee. We all need community!

I'm blogging on your blog to another blogger:)

By Blogger Jenni, at February 22, 2006 10:12 AM  

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