WORKING THROUGH OUR FEARS.

Jesus was afraid. He talked about his fears to his staff. He wrestled with his fears to the point of sweating blood in the garden. Without fear, Jesus could not have been an example to us. He would have been just another man.
    Many years ago my neighbour's son who practically adores me, looked up at me, and said you always look confident in whatever you wear (referring to me). I thanked him for the complement and geared him to grow up to be better than me someday, he looked up at me solemnly and said, "I'm not afraid".
   Jesus was not afraid to grow up either, but he did have to face some painful and gruesome events in his life. He felt fear.
   S.Jeffers,PhD, wrote a book called: Feel the fear ...and do it anyway.
she tells us that we will probably always have to deal with fear anyway! If we wait for our fears to disappear before we start, we will never even begin. The book of proverbs mentions the foolish farmer who waits for a cloudless sky before he plants his field. There is almost always a cloud somewhere in the sky, and those who are trained to look will probably see more than one. "Waiting for the perfect time is a great excuse & rationalization to stay stuck where you are".
Jesus knew that the best way to conquer fear was to face forward. The master did not shrink from going to Jerusalem, he boldly announced his identity to his executioners. My saviour got sick to his stomach, wept till sweat became blood - but he went through it anyway! Although he felt fear, he faced it anyway!
        Fear is an ever-present fact of life. This point became clear to us (my partner & i) a few weeks back when we finally put aside our fears to embark on a project that fear has been disallowing us to start for over two years, though fears shouted, and distractions hooted and waved their arms, and stood in our view. Fear did all sorts of fearful stuffs, but because we knew that fear is bogus and unreal, we kept moving forward till fear as usual, disappears and we were able to move on. Jesus worked through his fears, and so should we.
I pray today, that every single fear that has been keeping you from your goals should disappear by you having the courage to face them IJN. Amen.
-Olu Akpata
     (Zûr)