A PIECE OF MY HEART... sitting on the roof

DO YOU PREFER TO FACE YOUR FEARS RATHER THAN RUN FROM THEM?

Many times when I am afraid of something, I would rather pull the covers up around me and hope that they will go away. This method of madness usually does not work.

I will never forget how our son Jeremy faced a big fear of his. Ever since I can remember, Jeremy has been afraid of heights. We had many vacations to the mountain, and I can still vision Jeremy staying back as we all got to the edge of the cliff to look down. His fear gripped him so much that he missed out on seeing the beauty of Gods hand.

Jeremy finally had to face this fear he had of heights when he enlisted in the Air Force four years ago. Part of his training that he would have to pass for his job in the Air Force was to climb up a telephone pole. As much as he would liked to have not feared this ... truth is, he did. He knew he had to come up with an action plan to overcome this fear of heights.

One day, my husband and I came home and noticed that our extended ladder was out. Since we knew we didn't get it out, we asked Jeremy if he knew why the ladder was out. Come find out, Jeremy had taken the ladder out and had been "practicing" overcoming his fear of heights by climbing up on the roof of our house and sitting up there.

We laughed about that, but in reality Jeremy was on to something here. Several weeks later, when we attended his bootcamp graduation, Jeremy took us over to the telephone pole that he had to climb and be tested on. (not only did he climb it but he had to get to the top and then lean back and hang there) I will never, ever in my life forget what he said when I asked him how he was able to get the courage to climb that pole. He said, "Mom, I just did it. It is all a mind set."

I could not have been more proud of my son than I was in that moment. This reminds me of what Paul was trying to tell Timothy...God has given us a boldness and there will be times that we will face times of uncertainity and fear. Paul told Timothy to not fear because God lives in us and does not give us a spirit of fear.

LUKE 8:50 says "Do not be afraid; only believe!"

Sometimes, I think as christians we have the wrong mind set when it comes to our fears. We forget that God never puts more on us than we can handle, and no matter the heighth or depth of our fear - He is ALWAYS with us. Faith is stronger than fear!

Sometimes I just need to get a ladder out and go sit on the roof ...how about you?

and this is a piece of my heart today;