If I have learned anything this past month it is that fear is an illusion.  It rises up in our minds and creates a smoke screen.

As Susie Larson from Faith Radio says, ‘we cannot underestimate the destructive impact that undealt-with fear has on our lives’.

She goes on to quote brain science expert Dr. Timothy Jennings:

“Fear is an intruder, an unnatural invader, like a flesh-eating bacteria – ravaging and deforming all of creation.”

Jesus tells us that:

¹⁰ The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. (John 10:10 ESV)

In our society there is a constant fear of having things stolen.  I remember growing up we never locked our homes when we went out. Today we are double checking to make sure everything is shutdown. We are living in constant fear.

But in this verse, I believe Jesus was talking about how He would give us an abundant life and He was referring to fear as the thief who steals our peace, joy and our identity. The past can haunt us from time to time pulling us back and stopping us in our tracks.

As, I have walked through my healing journey over these past eight years and embraced who I am as child of God, many of my past fears fell away.  Small miracles unfolded before me as I faced my past fears. The door to the past has been firmly shut and the freedom I felt from self-doubt has brought me to a new place where I feel good about myself.

So, now I stand in the doorway of a new path that leads to the future.  And, I am facing a new anxiety, a fear of the future, a fear of who I am becoming. I recognize that I have entered a new era where I feel whole, happy and purposeful.

I believe that the fear of what God plans to do in our life can affect us in the same way our fears rooted in the past did.

Because I am happy and feel such freedom, I am afraid of showing up too much for the people around me. I fear appearing over-confident and arrogant. I wonder what people will think of me as I step into the liberty God has given me. I am afraid of their perception and criticisms. But it is all a lie, a deception and a smoke screen to hold me back in fear.

Somehow we feel by doing this we are not humble and we start suppressing the light, joy and freedom we experience because we believe it’s not spiritual. But it is a false humility.

God has been faithful to show me the walls of fear that have risen up in my life and blocked my view and suppressed my hope, my faith and my joy.

Over the last few weeks, the Lord has been giving me a vision and it kept coming back to me because I wasn’t getting the message.  I saw a huge wall before me blocking my path, but I kept ignoring the tiny door at the bottom. I finally understood what God was trying to tell me. He was showing me that the wall I thought was blocking my path was not really there, because that tiny door could be easily opened allowing me to freely walk through that barrier into the future God has for me.