Paralysis

As I stand before my peers attempting to steady by nerves, I feel my heart pounding in my chest.  I begin taking a couple of deep breaths and wipe my sweaty palms on my jeans.  Opening my mouth, I realize it is dry and for a few seconds no sounds come out of my mouth.  I was experiencing the symptoms of an unpleasant emotion called fear.  This emotion seemed to be always with me, when giving presentations for class.  We, as individuals, can allow fear to cause us to doubt our abilities and to stop us from moving forward with our lives.  Or we, as individuals, can push through our fears growing in confidence and self-control.

Animals and people have experienced fear of some sort.  Fear has affected our lives negatively.  Fear has held us back from enjoying life.  Fear should never be a part of our lives.  When we push through our fears, we grow in confidence as you will see in these examples. 

Several years ago an American Eskimo dog became a part of our family.  Nanook, beautiful and full of energy, was introduced to our cats after a short time.  Our cats did not greet Nanook very warmly.  They had never seen a dog in their lives and they were frightened by such a big animal.  Nanook was friendly and wanted to play.  In fact, much to our cats’ dismay, Nanook wanted to play, “chase the cats”.  The cats fearfully played the game even though they didn’t want to.  One particular morning Rosie, a short-haired tabby cat, became feed up with being chased by this big white haired mutt!  Rosie was running away from Nanook, when she made an abrupt halt and turned to face the dog.  Surprised, Nanook stopped.  Rosie reached up and slapped Nanook across his face with her paw with claws extended.  Nanook yelped and turned to run away.  Rosie immediately chased after Nanook and before she stopped planted a huge slap on the dog’s behind.  Another yelp and he escapes across the yard.  Rosie struts across the yard as if to say, “Look at me!  I faced my fear and it went away!  I am afraid of nothing!” 




                                                                     

Rosie became confident when she faced her fear.  In fact her fear went away.  Nanook and Rosie developed a respect for each other at that point.  Isn’t that amazing?  If Rosie had not faced her fear, she would not be enjoying her life, but living in fear of our dog.

                                                                          
                                                                  

There was another time I faced fear.  “Grrrrrrr!  Grrrrrr!!” I am awakened and startled by an enormous loud sound in the very wee hours of the morning.  With my eyes wide open I try to figure out what the terrifying sound was and where it was coming from.  In the darkness my eyes darted back and forth checking for a creature in my room.  As I layed there, quietly, I was afraid to move.  “Grrrrr!”  There it went again.  My heart began pounding hard.  Where was this creature?  What was this creature?  It sounded just like a bear on the balcony right outside my room.  I broke out into a sweat and I stifled a scream.  I began calming myself.  “There has to be a logical explanation,” I told myself.  “GRRRRR!!!”  I heard it again and realized that it was not coming from the balcony.  “Whew!”  I thought that was a relief.  It was downstairs.  Suddenly I decided the sound was not a bear after all.  My grandfather had spent the night with us; he was sleeping on the couch.  “Wow, it sounded like snoring.  Was it really my grandfather snoring?”  I listened to the rhythmic sound again.  Yes, it was my grandfather!  I never knew anybody could snore so loudly.

                                                                            

If I would have given into my fear in the wee hours of the morning to scream and run to who knows where, I would have awakened the whole house.  Fear would have increased in that my scream would have startled other family members.  Or, I could have laid there frozen in fear, for hours.  Fear was disguised as a part of my imagination.  I decided to be calm and reason the situation out. 

Fear keeps us from blessings and enjoying life.  Bill Cosby said, “Decide that you want it more than you are afraid of it.” This is so true.  I remember I was afraid of going to the altar to seek the Lord for my salvation.  Fear had me frozen in the pew.  After several evenings of being stuck, I decided to face my fear and push through.  I had to want my salvation more than allowing fear to rob me of the blessing.  I am sure thankful I did not let fear stop me.