Monday Morning Memo: F-E-A-R - My Story Part 3

We recently began our “study” of the word F-E-A-R.  Why did I think this was important and very timely?  Because I am noticing a common theme among many people these days…yes, even Christians…and that theme revolves around living in “fear”.  

 

We are living in a world which seems off its hinges.  Things are happening which we never would have guessed would take place and, as a result, people are consumed with fear.  Is this how we should be living?  I don’t think so.

 

So far, we have looked at the fact that when we allow fear to overwhelm us, it shows our lack of Faith in God.  Then last week, we realized that when we allow fear to overtake us, we lose our Effectiveness for God.    Instead of being productive…we become paralyzed.  Our focus is on us and not on Christ and at that point the letter “A” comes into play because through our fear, Satan can then Attack.  

 

I then promised that this week I would share with you something that happened to me some years ago…when my eyes were taken off Christ and Satan immediately stepped in to make sure I was paralyzed in fear.  Honestly, you may read my story and think “Why did that cause her so much fear?”…but it did…and I want us to look at what can occur in our day to day happenings to throw us off track.  In the end, I obeyed…but trust me, I wasn’t a willing servant.

 

I was working at a church and the phone rang and it was a man who was in jail here in my town. He wanted to know if I would bring him some of his things which were in his car at his home.  Now, I didn’t know this man, but he said he knew me, that he lived by me, and he thought it would be easy for me to do this favor for him.  Well, I’ll be honest, this made me very fearful, and I really didn’t want to get involved.  I had no idea what this man was in jail for, or how he seemed to know so much about me.  At this point, Satan began his attack.  “LuAnn, you have every right to be afraid.  Why this man could be a mass murderer for all you know!  Why don’t you just ignore the phone call – he probably has done something terrible, and he needs to suffer the consequences.”

 

Well, after much arguing with the Lord, I decided to call the warden at the jail and asked for his advice in this situation.  He advised me to go and talk to this man’s parents, explain to them what their son wanted and have them take his things to him.  So, with my knees shaking, I did just that.  This was really pushing me out of my comfort zone, and I can’t tell you how glad I was when it was over.  As I pulled away from their home, I remember thinking, “Whew, I’m so glad that is done.”

 

Several days later, I was in another city and I purchased some beautiful potted plants for my mom and my mother-in-law for Mother’s Day, which was the following Sunday.  They were so pretty that I decided to purchase a couple extra planters and thought that I would also surprise a couple other women with plants.  As I was driving home, I was trying to decide who to give them to, and I was thinking about all the dear saints who attended our church and how I was looking forward to delivering the flowers to them.  Well, you guessed it, Christ began to speak to me and He said, “LuAnn what about the mother of this man who is in jail?  She probably won’t have a very good Mother’s Day.  Why don’t you take the flowers to her?”  

 

To many of you, I’m sure this wouldn’t be a big deal.  Just go and give this woman the flowers.  I can’t explain to you the fear that consumed me over this.  First of all, I thought the Lord had forgotten what I had already done for this family and honestly, I thought I had done enough. At that moment, when Satan realized that my eyes were on myself and not on Christ, he moved in once again.  “LuAnn, you should not have to give this woman anything.  She’s not expecting it and what if, because of you showing her attention, she becomes a pest.  They might want more from you and you have enough to do.”  The key here is that if Satan can get us to give in to him on something relatively small like this, it will be easier for him to get us to take our eyes off Christ the next time something comes along.

 

I did finally give in to what Christ wanted, and with my heart pounding out of my chest, I delivered the planters to this woman.  She sat and sobbed and said, “You will never know how much this means to me.  I can’t believe you care enough to do this.  This was going to be my worst Mother’s Day, but you have made it much better.’  A couple weeks later, I found a card stuck in our front door from this woman, telling me how much encouragement she was receiving every time she looked at those planters.  

 

I share this story not to brag about what I did, because believe me, as I said earlier…I was not a willing servant.  To be completely honest, I’m embarrassed to admit that I didn’t do this act of kindness because I cared…I did it as an act of obedience.  But I ended up receiving such a blessing through all this which I never would have gotten if I would have listened to Satan and allowed my fear to consume me.  And each time I can break through my fear, defeat Satan and keep my eyes focused on Christ, it’s easier the next time I’m faced with a situation which causes me fear.

 

What is currently happening in your life that has you gripped in fear?  Is God asking you to do something, but you’ve been paralyzed instead of productive?  If so, ask Him today to give you the courage to take the next step towards obedience.  It may not be easy, but I think you will be surprised at the blessings you will receive as you faithfully serve Him!