What are you afraid of?
Fear is that dread in the pit of your stomach, the way your gut clenches and your heart starts beating faster and you can’t focus on anything other than that thing you’re fearing.
I want to share a story with you about something that I was afraid of. This took place the third summer that I worked at Camp Luther as a part of their summer staff team. That summer I was a program coordinator at camp, and I was in charge of leading several different off-site trips.
Because of the different groups I was going to be leading, I needed to be a lifeguard. Which I was not. So towards the end of staff training, I and a couple of other summer staff members went to a Red Cross lifeguard certification course.
Lifeguard Training
It was three days long, eight hours a day. The course was taught by a guy we called Scuba Steve, and he was not messing around. Depending on who is doing the training, these classes can vary in intensity, but this particular class was intense. Steve was determined that we were going to be the best lifeguards he could make us in those three days. Which is good, but it meant the training was tough.
I am not lying when I say it was three days of constant fear. And this was all pass/fail — you either did the training or you wouldn’t pass the course. Here’s some of the stuff we had to do:
Training started with a water skills test. This included a 550 yard swim (22 laps), a surface dive for a 10-lb brick, which you would then swim the length of the pool with, and then retrieving three dive rings place 5-yards apart that started in the deeper end of the pool. There were no goggles allowed. And this was before training even officially started!
During training we learned a lot of different rescue techniques. One of the drills we had to do was called “Rescue Scuba Steve”. I didn’t mention earlier, but Steve was a big dude. He was 200+ lbs and STRONG. And so after we learned these rescue techniques, Steve pretended to be a drowning victim, and everyone had to take a turn trying to rescue him. While this was taking place, he was doing his best to NOT let you rescue him. This included grabbing you and taking you under with him; doing alligator rolls; flipping you up and over his head if your grip wasn’t tight enough. It was terrible.
A big threat in rescuing a drowning victim is they’re not thinking clearly; they’re panicking—and so if you’re within reach they’re going to grab you. This can lead to both the victim and the rescuer drowning. So one of the things we practiced during training was how to get out of a situation where someone grabs you from behind and starts choking you. This was a three step process. Step One: Go over the technique and proper movements. Step Two: The person would hold on a little hard and try a little more. Step Three: The “victim” was actively trying to choke you to death from behind.
That was the kind of stuff we did. It was awesome training. And it was terrifying. I spent three days in a state of dread. We’d get done with training for the day, and I’d immediately start dreading the next day. Driving to the pool in the morning was terrible.
Water has this fear factor that sets it apart. Once you’re under water, you have 30 seconds or so before it starts to become a very bad situation.
Logically, I knew there was nothing to be afraid of. I was in good shape; I was a good swimmer; I was good learner; I knew I could handle whatever they gave me. In my head, I knew I shouldn’t be afraid. But that mattered not at all to the feelings my heart was generating. And so it was this constant battle to push past the fear, to do the training.
Fear in our Lives
We all have stuff we’re afraid of. We all have areas of our life where fear rules.
As you get older, the fear doesn’t go away. You just get better at hiding it.
Fear of the unknown.
Fear of the future.
Fear of not being in control.
Fear of losing your friends, or your family, or the people close to you.
Fear is this battle we’re constantly fighting.
How would you like to never be afraid?
“God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him. In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment, because in this world we are like him. There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear.” (1 John 4:16-18)
When you are completely, totally, and perfectly loved, and you know it, and you feel it, the fear goes away. And we are completely, totally, and perfectly loved.
But it’s hard to remember that sometimes. We live in a shadowed world. And it’s far too easy to lose sight of that love, and to focus on your fear. To focus on your failures and your mistakes and the stuff that’s stressing you out and the problems you’re dealing with and everything you’re worrying about right now.
So what do we do?
Fear, at its heart, is about trust.
One of my summers on staff, there was a counselor named Kraut. And I remember one week we were working together, and our group that week was petrified of the dark. And this is what he told them: The darker it is, the safer we are, because then we are forced to rely on God and not on ourselves.
Fear, at its root, has to do with us. With our identity. We’re scared we’re not strong enough, or not good enough, or not courageous enough. Not. Enough. But here is God’s answer:
“But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” (2 Corinthians 12:9-10)
This is God’s final word. Whatever we’re scared of, whatever we’re going through, Jesus Christ is enough. His love is enough. And if we stop trying to be strong enough and courageous enough on our own and give up control to him, He can take away our fear.
Are you making your problems bigger than God? Are you making your fears more powerful than the God who created this universe?
That God loves you we can trust beyond a shadow of a doubt because He came to this earth to live among us and to ultimately give His life to free yours. God wants your fear to be turned into faith. To be a display of your trust in Him. Because there is nothing God can’t work through. There is nothing in your life, there is nothing that has happened, there is nothing that will happen to you that God cannot work through.
In The Chronicles of Narnia, there is a character who represents the Jesus-figure in the series. His name is Aslan. He’s a lion. And in the first book, when the main characters find out Aslan is a lion, one of them asks, “Is he safe?” Does anyone remember how that question gets answered?
“Safe? Who said anything about safe? Course he isn't safe. But he's good.”
Jesus isn’t safe. Following Jesus isn’t safe. But He is good. And His love is greater, His strength is stronger, His power is mightier. Turn your fear into faith. Put your trust in Him when you’re feeling afraid, when you’re worried, when you don’t know what the future holds.
Perfect love casts out fear. And we are perfectly loved in Christ.
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Written and shared by Kardia.