Fear Not!

“For God has not given you a spirit of fear, but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.” II Timothy 1:7


Life has been busy.


How many times do we catch ourselves saying this? Even when we ARE busy, are we still making time for God? If not - or if not daily - do we feel fear creeping in?


My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, I am terribly guilty of this one! Thank God for His great mercy, amazing grace, and incredible forgiveness. He knows we will fall prey to fear more than anything. It is not coincidence that the Bible tells us variations of ‘do not be afraid’ at least 365 times. He knows we need a daily reminder!


This is why it’s so important that we seek Him daily - so we can push our doubts and fears back to the dark corners where they belong. And He’ll replace them with His Spirit. A Spirit of love, power, and strong mind!


My family and I have been on a journey this summer that has definitely tested our faith. God came through in a big way! 


We looked into selling our house in favor of a place that had a little more land. We had just under 1/4 acre and made an offer on a place with 3/4 acres. Long story short: the deal fell through. God had other plans for us!


We were in a time crunch, and got blessed to find some place that seemed right, plus it’s five minutes from our church home. We made an offer and came to an agreement. Inspections went great. Well and septic in good condition. No termites. Survey even showed the plot to be slightly bigger than listed! The end of a months long journey was almost in sight! 


Less than two weeks before closing, the initial appraisal comes in as expected not to meet contract price. Not even 24 hours later, our agent put together/submitted comps that she worked hard to put together. Almost a week after that, we were told the appraisal now meets price but there were needed repairs prior to closing. Our realtor helped us scramble to get these all taken care of within a few days! The appraiser was notified so reinspection could happen. The sale of our house went through a few days later - no word yet from the appraiser. Late afternoon the day before we were to close on the purchase, we were told our lender refused to release the paperwork until after the appraiser signed off on our repairs. Our 9am closing was pushed to 2pm. 


Finally a few hours later we received word the appraiser would do their reinspection at 7pm. We texted family and friends like crazy: please pray AT 7PM for a pass from the appraiser! At 7:00 pm I grabbed my husband’s hands and we prayed together. We kept praying on and off all evening. We went to sleep not knowing if we were going to be scrambling to find housing because we had a firm move out date. Talk about fear trying to take over!


We pushed it away by leaning into God! Trusting Him completely. And He came through in a big way! 10:45 am we got confirmation the appraiser signed off on repairs!! I cried tears of joy with our angel of a Realtor. GOD IS GOOD ALL THE TIME we texted each other.


The full weight of His goodness we will never grasp. Yet I write this from our amazing new home, with its porch like I’ve always dreamt of, a cozy fireplace I can’t wait to use, and it is all nestled on almost TWELVE ACRES of God’s serene countryside. More land than I ever imagined owning!


Dear ones please hear me when I share with you this: He wants to bless you in big ways! Do not limit your path by giving in to fear. If you feel fear trying to sneak in, lean into God! Seek Him in His Word. Cling to His promises. He is with you and will lead you by His Word to the great things He has planned for you!


Pray with me?


Heavenly Father,

We thank You for always providing all our needs, without fail. We praise You for Your never-ending goodness and grace. Please help us to seek You in prayer and in Your Word when fear tries to creep in. Remind us that You have given us Your Spirit which means we have Your power, love, and strength to fight off those fears, making way for Your amazing blessings. We ask this all in Jesus’ holy name. Amen.

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