A Fly Went By...

When I was a kid, there was a book that my Dad and I read frequently together, A Fly Went By, by Mike McClintock. I don't know if you recognize this title, but I can recite a lot of it simply from memory of the times Dad read the book to me and then I read it to my children. "I sat by the lake and looked at the sky, and as I looked, a fly went by. A fly went by, he said 'Oh Dear!' I saw him shake; he shook with fear! And when I saw that fly go past, I asked him why he went so fast. I asked him why he shook with fear. I asked him why he said, 'Oh Dear!' He said, 'I MUST GET OUT OF HERE!'"

The fly tells the young boy that a frog is after him. Soon, following the fly, a frog comes along and the story continues. "The fly went past! The frog came FAST! I asked the frog, I asked him 'Why? Why do you want to get that fly?" The frog said, "Me? I want no fly, but I must hop and this is why..."

The story goes on as the frog is terrified of something chasing him (a cat), and the cat is running in fear of the dog...and so on. One of my favorite pages in the book says: "The fly flew away in fear of the frog, who ran from the cat, who ran from the dog. The dog and the pig and cows, they all ran, and then came the fox who ran from the man." 

One by one, all of these animals are running from the animal behind them and in the end it is shown that the man is running from an awful sound he heard. He ran in fear, building up the "what-ifs" in his mind, creating a monster that was chasing him.  But it ended up being a sweet little lamb with a tin can stuck on it's leg, just trying to get the man's attention. That somehow started a chain reaction of fear that could only be stopped by truth and knowledge of that truth. At this point, the young boy works to get the man to help and then to get all the animals to come to a halt once they realized their fears were unfounded and that they are safe in the presence of the little lamb.

If you'd like to see the entire book read, here it is by Sunshine Stories. 

 It is a wonderful and fun little rhyming book that brings back fond memories for me from my childhood, but God used it to remind me of a much deeper lesson.

 I had not thought of this book for years until just recently. I have had several conversations lately about fears of the future and anxieties as an adult. Fear is a legitimate reaction for us as humans. If it were not, God would not have included so many scriptures addressing our fear reactions and how we should deal with anxiety. The words, "Fear not..." or "do not be afriad..." are some of the most repeated phrases in the Bible. God has given us reminder after reminder to "fear not..." as believers because we are His and under His protection. Verses that focus on dealing with anxious thoughts and anxieties, are also throughout the Scriptures. 

 1 Peter 5:6-7 "Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time, He may exalt you. Cast all your anxieties on Him, because He cares for you."

 Philippians 4:6-7 "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. 

 Joshua 1:9 Have I not commanded you, " Be strong and corageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go." 

Psalm 55:22 Cast your burden on the Lord, and he will sustain you. He will never permit the righteous to be moved. 

 John 14:27 Peace I leave with you, my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let them be afraid. 

Fear and anxiety are very real. In our world, we have so many reasons to deal with fear and anxiety. But as believers, God has given us access to His peace and His comfort, His control, and His plans. All too often, we let a twinge of fear or anxiety hit us and then we "what-if" it to the point that it grows much bigger than reality. When we allow ourselves to start creating "the fear monster" in our minds, we give Satan the ability to weaponize our own fears against us. Further, when we metaphorically run from that fear (spiritually or emotionally) we give Satan tools to wield against us that only hold weight based on our own "what if" scenarios, and that target our hearts and our minds. 

In the story, the animals collectively allow fear to dictate their every thought and move, and it causes destruction all around them. We do the very same thing when we allow fear and anxiety to take root in our hearts and dictate our thoughts and decisions. They ran through a wall, destroying boundaries. They ran through a bank, destroying finances. They ran through a house, destroying a home and relationships. They ran through a tent, destroying a place of solitude and rest. Fear will destroy what we hold dear until something or someone is "loud" enough to make us stop in our tracks and look around at our path of destruction; something "loud" enough to get our attention and turn it from fear to the truth. 

The truth is that Christ holds us close; God protects us with His righteous right hand. The truth is God loves us and will work everything for our good in His timing. The truth is He has gone before us, will be beside us, and will never leave us. 

 2 Thessalonians 3:3 But the Lord is faithful. He will establish you and guard you against the evil one.

Romans 8:28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who are called according to His purpose. 

Deuteronomy 31:8 The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you; He will never leave you or forsake you.Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.

 Isaiah 41:10 Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. 

I am not saying that fear and anxiety will not impact you as a believer. I am saying we have to practice leaning into God and His word in those times when we are fearful.The more we do it, the easier it will become. Is it easy? Absolutely not. There is not a single thing of the "flesh" that is easy to give to God, fear and anxiety included.

I noticed in 1 Peter 5:6-7, the scripture starts with the command to "Humble yourselves." Why do you think that is how the scripture on casting your cares to Jesus begins? I think Peter is saying that we cannot hold tight to our fears and anxiety without holding tight to ourselves; that focusing on those fears and anxiety might actually be a self-absorbed act. 

Whew, that is difficult to digest, at least for me. I do not want to be self-absorbed, but sometimes, I play the "what-if" scenarios to the point that I am dealing with anxiety to a level that impacts my mind, my peace, my health and how I interact with those around me. I cannot think of a time when I have been in this downward spiral of fear that I was basing my reactions and actions on God's truth and Scriptures. I become hyper-focused on how things are impacting me or how they might(if x-y-z happens) affect me or my family or even how I imagine them impacting me or my family..

 Just typing that last sentence is humbling - such a heavy focus on "me" and "my." 

How do I get out of that viscous cycle? 1 Peter 5:6 holds the key; I must humble myself. 

I have to switch the focus from me to He. I have to give Him the control that I am desperately trying to cling to, in moments that were never in my control to begin with. I have to cast my cares to Him and pray with all supplication and thanksgiving. More than anything else, I have to trust. I have to trust that He is never going to leave me. I have to trust that He has already gone before me. I have to trust that He cares for me. I have to trust that He protects me and holds me up. I have to trust that He is good and He loves me enough to work all things for my good.

Sometimes, I do a good job of this; most times I fall flat. But this is the beautiful thing about our Savior, He never asked us to be perfect, for He is perfect in our place. He does ask us to trust His sovereignty and to know His Word. Those are two things we can work to do; learn and know the Word...write it on our hearts...and practice using that knowledge to remind us who God really is, even in the difficult times. 

The alternative creates chaos in our lives, give us the downward spiral of anxiety and fear, and gives the evil one weapons to use against us through our own thoughts and feelings. If we give our thoughts over to the fear and anxiety, we become like the long line of animals running from the one behind them, when it was just a tame little sheep needing attention. Don't mishear me, sometimes, the fear has been created from something very scary and very big in our lives; it is not always a tame little lamb. Those times are even harder to remember to humble ourselves and give every ounce of our being over to trusting Him. The key is that if we do this on a regular basis in all of the "little lamb moments", then the bigger, scarier times that this world throws our way, will be easier to give the control over to Him as well; even when we don't understand. Fear and anxiety can be very justified and understable, but allowing it to control our lives to the point that we forget His sovereignty and His promises and His love - that is what we must work to avoid. It requires a heart "muscle memory" of sorts, where you have practiced it and worked on it over and over and over, so that when the fear is blinding, you are able to rely on that muscle memory of how to lean into His presence and His perfect peace that we do not understand.

 I know it may seem like a stretch that a sweet, rhyming children's book reminded me about how God wants me to respond to fear and anxiety in my life, so this next connection may be super far-fetched to you. But for me there are a couple of other reminders this belowed children's book gave me. 

I know that sometimes I will lose the battle of allowing fear to take over, but in the end, I only need to look for the LAMB and remember that I AM SAFE in HIS PRESENCE! Now that is a reminder worth sharing! Regardless of what others are doing or running from, I can always LOOK TO THE LAMB for peace. 

 The end of the book has the same line as the beginning: "I sat by the lake and looked at the sky." This line and the illustration of peace and stillness reminds me a little of Psalm 23, one of the most used scriptures about fear and God's protective hand and one that sums up my thoughts so beautifully: 

"The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures, He leads me beside quiet waters, He restores my soul. He guide's me in paths of righteousness for His name's sake.Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no eavil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You annoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever." Psalm 23 (NIV) 

May you sit by the lake and look at the sky (metaphorically or physically) and always remember to look for the LAMB in the midst of chaos around you.

In Him, 

Stephanie

Fear and Faith: On the Platforms of the Windmill

Fear is a strange thing. It overtakes all sense of logic and can leave its victim without the ability to even form a coherent thought. I know this because I have seen it first hand. While I do have a fear of heights, it usually does not require me to change much about my life. I would say that my fear is a milder version than some. My oldest daughter is absolutely, completely terrified of frogs or toads. I know that may sound strange to you, but the sight of an amphibious, jumping little greenish brown thing will send her to edge of reality and she will do whatever she can to get as far away as possible while trying not to hyperventilate. We are not exactly sure when or why this fear was birthed, but it runs deep. Luckily, it isn't as though one has to maneuver around frogs on a daily basis in Central Texas, so it really doesn't impact her life too terribly.

My mother on the other hand, like me is scared of heights. Maybe I should rephrase that, she is deathly terrified of any height taller than a two-inch wedge heel. One time she had received tickets to watch the Texas Rangers play because she was being honored as her school district's Teacher of the Year. The tickets were just a few rows from the very top of the incredibly tall stadium. I wasn't too keen on going up there to watch (I mean, the birds were flying below us), but my husband, father, and other family were excited about seeing their favorite team. I stayed with mom. She confided in me that when she gets up in high places like that, she is overcome by the intense thought to just go ahead and jump to her death because it is going to happen anyway; her brain says, "Get it over with already!" I was flabbergasted, and quickly made her promise to never do that! Truth is, she can't control the fear, it completely overpowers her logic and luckily she has never acted on the urge. Mom doesn't even do very well going down single flights of stairs or escalators if they are the narrow kind. The more narrow they are, the more steep they appear, and her fear starts to set in. She has managed her entire life and has learned ways to manage her fear and occasionally even beats her fear, but it never goes away. Fear is a really strange thing.

I have heard several times that fear and faith cannot reside in the brain at the same time; that your mind is either fearful or faithful. Which leads me to believe that, like fear, faith must be something that overcomes you and even overtakes all sense of logic. Faith usually isn't logical. Fear is hardly ever logical. In my experience, one causes me to behave illogically and the other causes me to rest in the illogical.

 A great illustration of fear versus faith is a story I remember my Grandpa and Grandma telling me when I was younger. You see, I think the fear of heights was something that in a lot of ways could have been passed down from generation to generation. My grandpa was an intimidating man who stood tall at six feet seven inches. He was a wheat farmer in Northern Oklahoma and a school teacher and counselor. My grandma complemented Grandpa with her slight five foot even build and often helped in the farming business as well as taught school herself. I am sure while reading this post, Grandma will smile at the story and hopefully I do it justice, as my grandpa was quite the story teller in his day.

Grandma and Grandpa in the early years

Grandma and Grandpa ( We sure do miss him)

As I recall, Grandpa and Grandma were working at the farm and the windmill had somehow broken. This windmill was instrumental in their farming because it pumped the water for the stock pond or "tank" for the livestock on the farm. (Grandpa owned cattle and a few horses as well as farming wheat.) Without the windmill pumping water to the tank, the animals would not survive. My grandpa, remember was afraid of heights. I believe his fear was at least as strong as my mother's if not more magnified.

I am not completely certain how tall the windmill was, but in talking to my parents, I am thinking it was around 25-30 feet in the air, and looked similar to this one. The way I remember the story, Grandpa had determined what exactly was broken on the windmill and had the ability and parts to repair it so he and Grandma headed down to the creek. I don't know if you can see it, but on this lovely wooden structure is a tiny little wooden ladder going up one side. The way I always pictured this in my mind when Grandpa told the story was that his had the ladder up the back of the windmill, but it could have been on the side. The problem was that the portion that needed to be repaired was on the opposite side as the ladder, and around the front (blade-side) of the windmill. This meant that someone would have to climb up the tiny, rickety ladder, step on that tiny platform at the top, then stretch around the blades to the other platform to stand so they could do the repairs. Here is where the story gets interesting.

Determined to be self-sustaining and take care of his farm, my grandpa steeled himself against his fear of heights and began the ascent of the tiny ladder. Now I always found it fascinating that a man who to me seemed 12 feet tall would be in the least affected by heights, but nevertheless, he was. At the top, I am sure shaking with fright, but still determined, he would take a deep breath and try to get the nerve up to step on the tiny platform and then stretch his long legs around and step to the other side to fix the windmill. He couldn't do it.  Defeated, he climbed down. Knowing they had to get it fixed, Grandma offers to give it a try. (don't forget she is just 5' tall.) She climbs up the ladder, which probably took her a little longer, and gets to the top. Grandma doesn't have the intense fear of heights, so she steps to the platform and makes the attempt to get to the other side. Her shorter legs will not reach. Defeated, she climbs down. The story goes that Grandpa climbed up again and tried to overpower the intense fear that he had and just couldn't get to the other side, so he climbed back down because Grandma thought she could make it this time. Grandma climbs up and stretches as far as tiny legs will stretch and cannot reach the other side. Apparently they did this little dance of the windmill  for quite a while before my grandpa was able to overcome the fear and get to the other side, repair the windmill and continue farming. Can you just imagine the conversation between this young couple as they both know this has to get done and neither one seem to be able to get it done and yet, there is no one else to do it for them. I can imagine the frustration, conflict, irritation, and later comic relief the entire windmill repair embodied. In that moment, Grandpa had to have enough faith that the platform would hold him, that he could do it, that he would not fall so he could overtake the deeply rooted fear that had prevented him from being successful on every prior attempt. Was the platform stronger that last time? Was Grandpa better prepared? Was he more steady or more ready? Was the climb shorter or the height less scary? I wasn't there, but my guess to each of these questions is, "Absolutely not!" There was no more logical reason to believe it would be okay the 10th time he tried than the 1st time he tried; he just got tired of allowing the fear to win. One side of that windmill platform was labeled FEAR and the other side labeled FAITH; fear and faith cannot abide in our lives at the same time.

Psalm 56: 3-4

"When I am afraid, 

I will trust in you.

In God, whose word I praise

In God I trust; I will not fear"

A fear of heights, or frogs, or storms (another family trait), or snakes, or spiders or public speaking are all things people deal with on a regular basis. Often it is not as much the identified item that is feared, but the threat of what danger or harm it might possibly inflict upon its victim. Many fears are natural, healthy survival instincts that sometimes are fed a little too aggressively. The fears that are the most damaging in my opinion are the silent ones; the ones no one will talk about. The fear of failure, the fear of commitment, the fear of success, the fear of responsibility, the fear of the truth,the fear of loss, the fear of change, the fear of the future, the fear of the past catching up to us, the fear of rejection, the fear of the unknown, the fear of being known...these fears are more taboo; these fears are silent. These fears we don't like to admit we have. These fears will control our lives if we allow them and are infinitely more aggressive than the tangible fears.

You see, my mom can choose the elevator instead of steep stairs. Kaitlyn can just avoid Kermit. My grandpa could have even paid someone else to climb the windmill if it had come to that or found a friend to help. But these silent fears, these intangible fears,  these are the ones that will overcome you and cause you to make poor decisions or keep you from good decisions. These fears will hold you hostage and stifle your growth. These fears are ongoing, and can only be overcome by replacing them with something that will overcome your heart with just as much intensity and power: faith.

The Bible says in Hebrews:

Hebrews 11:1

"Now faith is the assurance of what is hoped for; the conviction of what is unseen."

It is impossible to be fearful and have faith at the same time. You cannot step out in faith if you have fear! The apostle Peter who saw Jesus coming to him on the top of the water asked to be able to walk on the water also and Jesus said one simple word to Peter, "Come." Peter jumped out of the boat, ignoring the waves of a tumultuous sea, and started walking. He had faith in that moment in his Savior and was stepping out not in water, but in faith alone, which held him above the water. But suddenly, he slipped into human logic and realized what was happening was impossible by all accounts and that the sea was tossing around him and he was fully clothed in garments that were probably pretty heavy, especially when wet. His fear took hold of him, and he began to sink. What did Jesus say and do? He said, " You of little faith..." The faith had been immediately replaced by fear and Jesus had to reach out and restore the faith. Maybe it is just me, but God has told me so many times to "come" and I will be excited until I notice a little wind resistance or a wave lapping at my toes and suddenly I am thrust head-first into my former fears! Thank goodness our Lord is gracious and patient with me and picks me up, and reminds me that faith should have my focus, not fear.

Matthew 14:29-31

29 “Come!” He said.

And climbing out of the boat, Peter started walking on the water and came toward Jesus.30 But when he saw the strength of the wind,[k] he was afraid. And beginning to sink he cried out, “Lord, save me!”

31 Immediately Jesus reached out His hand, caught hold of him, and said to him, “You of little faith, why did you doubt?” 

One other thing I have heard speakers say about fear is that something like 90% of what you fear never happens! Honestly, I do not know if that is some fabricated statistic to make a point or not, but from my experience, it holds a lot of truth. Things that I worry myself over or try to manipulate situations to avoid, hardly ever happen anyway! The times that the most feared thing happened, I have grown through that and learned so much about who I am and who others are and most importantly who God is. If I think of the flip side of the coin, in my experience, the same percentage (if not more) would have to apply about things that I rested in faith over; at least 90%- if not all- worked out just how they were supposed to. Sometimes, not exactly how I had planned, but in hindsight, my plans really aren't all they are cracked up to be.

Think about the rhetoric often used around the word 'fear'. Frozen in FEAR. Gripping FEAR. Overcome by FEAR. Overwhelming FEAR. Wild with FEAR. Spine- tingling FEAR. Heart-pounding FEAR. Trembling with FEAR. Awe struck FEAR. Just typing these makes my heart race a little and I am feeling a little anxious! But for a moment, think with me about the difference it would make, just in the meanings of the phrases if you replaced FEAR with the one and only thing that can literally take its place: FAITH. How would you like to have overwhelming FAITH? Or to be Overcome by FAITH? Spine-tingling FAITH? Heart-pounding FAITH! Or one of my favorites, wild with FAITH! Wow, what a difference! One windmill platform of FEAR and the other of FAITH! What a beautiful picture in my mind now! I think I may write these on cards so I can flip over the fear and replace it with faith! I don't know if anyone can relate, but this gets me excited and makes my heart beat a little faster!

I don't know which particular fear grips you the easiest, but I have found that being aware of the feeling helps me put it in greater perspective and I know that spirit of fear is not from God. God gives us the ability to have faith; Satan throws darts of fear at us. If I am truly overcome by fear, that is of the devil and I have the Holy Spirit in me that can cast that off if I will just allow faith to abide instead.

2 Timothy 1:7 

For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but one of power, love, and sound judgment.

 There are countless scriptures in the Bible that either use the phrase " Do not be afraid" or "Fear not". This is a list of just a few. If you are struggling with replacing fear with faith, please look these up and read them OUT LOUD! Let your mouth speak the words, your ears hear the words so your heart will know the words.

Deuteronomy 31:6 & 31:8, Joshua 1:9, Isaiah 41:10 & 54:4, Jeremiah 1:8, Ezekiel 2:6, Matthew 10:26, John 14:27, Hebrews 13:6, I John 4:18

Isaiah 44:8 is one of my favorites:

"Do not be startled or afraid. Have I not told you and declared it long ago? You are my witnesses! Is there any God but Me? There is no other Rock."

You know we refer to it as a "leap of faith" but there is no such thing as a "leap of fear." Fear is human nature, unintentional. Faith is God's nature and must therefore be humanly intentional. So here's to intentionally replacing fear with faith; every day, every time, everyone.

Blessed more than I deserve,

Stephanie

srieper89@gmail.com

www.facebook.com/heartiscrossed