dear emily,
true confession time. i became terrified for one of my dear
ones and fell into the dreaded mom-trap, the snare of fear.
every single time i do that, my lion claws snap open, and i
hurt someone, usually the very one i am trying to protect.
my sweet friend, annie, is aways challenging me to parent
out of faith and not fear. but it is just SO hard!
faith connotes lovely images of hope and trust. it dwells
in open fields of fertile ground from which good, strong
plants grow. there is a talmud saying, "every blade of grass
has its Angel who bends over it and whispers, 'grow, grow.'"
fear, in opposition, seizes and constricts, paralyzes and
steals all reason or logic. not sure who said, "love is what
we're born with, fear is what we learned here," but it
resonates within me.
john, the beloved disciple, encouraged us with, "perfect
love casts out fear." 1 john 4:18. i am obviously not full
of that love yet. 'what wondrous love is this, oh my soul?'
the good news, and there is always good news, is that the
One who is full of perfect love has made that available to
me whenever i choose it. and His love casts out so much
more than my most dreaded fears.
and here i am, again, saying, "Lord i choose love...help me
to choose love!"
a mustard seed of love,
lea
20 comments:
We've just finished a sermon series on fear. It's amazing the power it has over us if we allow it.
You have hit in a real nerve here ... fear is just so powerful and debilitating ... and as you have so eloquently written the Lord encourages us away from it.
Ah...you're doing great, you're calling upon our Lord to help. As other religions have mantras, so have I; whenever fear grips me, I call out the name of Jesus...over and over and over as many times as it takes. He always answers in love.
Thank you for visiting Thistle Cove Farm and for your encouraging words. God's blessings on you, yours and the works of your hands and heart.
Your blog is so pretty, and I love what you wrote. What can stir up fear and protection in a mother's heart more than those loved children, not matter how old they are! I understand!
I have a quote on my blog about fear, by Max Lucado, which is similar to what you wrote.
Thank you for commenting on my blog, it is nice to find another fan of some of my favorite books.I enjoyed reading your posts. I find that parenting involves a lot of feelings of fear and it's hard to send your children out into the world. I'd love to feel excitement in their new adventures, not fear, so I spend a lot of time talking to God about it. Well said.
Oh, gosh, yes. Getting rid of fear means learning to trust, and that is sometimes difficult. I understand exactly what you are feeling. Love and fear are often inextricably link, and sometimes we have to let go a little bit. It's not easy sometimes.
(And by the way, if you are having difficulty with people posting comments, it might be an idea to change your comment settings to "full page" rather than "embedded below post". I have noticed "embedded below post" is difficult for people to comment sometimes. You will also be able to see people's avatars.)
Cheers!
Jo
thanks, jo, for the advice! i have switched to 'full page' to see if
that works better.
testing
An avatar is a picture. I think you still have the embedded below post option. For some reason when Blogger set that up, it made it difficult for people to post comments. It always comes up with "Your request could not be processed. Please try again." When it is "full page" it doesn't do that.
You have a very nice avatar, by the way.
last test, i hope.
Thank you so much for visiting my blog! Your blog is absolutely beautiful and I'm so looking forward to reading your letters to Emily!
Brandy
punkinandpeanut.blogspot.com
Yay! You fixed it. Now if you go into the same layout page and choose
Show profile images on comments?
● Yes
you will be able to see the avatars (pictures) of all your blogging friends who post comments!
You have a beautiful, beautiful blog, and the whole world needs to find you. :-)
Cheers,
Jo
jo! thank you so much for your help!
what an incredibly kind gesture!
So true!! Thanks for posting this as a reminder for me too!
Such a good word, Lea. Fear gets us all from time to time so it's always a timely word, too. Praying for you and your dear one and trusting that God will do the work as we yield it to Him.
dear aunt amelia,
i appreciate your sweet, heartfelt candor
and would completely understand if my
blog was too offensive for you to visit.
it is a marvel to me that anyone outside
my small sphere of influence would want
to!
we all write out of what is in our hearts. i enjoy what flows out of yours. honesty is always the best policy in my book.
perspective colors that, though. we see
life from a different prism.
love,
lea
Yes Dear One, we see life from a different prism. And isn't it wonderful that we can do so? And still find joy, in each other? Yes!
I removed my comment. Because though you are too sweet to say so, I'm sure you will be glad that I did.
Many hugs and thanks, for allowing it to Publish. And to you, for being so kind, to me, about sharing with you.
As I said, you give Blog Land an all-round lovely blog. Don't stop. Don't change. You are purrrrrrrrrfect, as is.
Gentle hugs.......
What a beautiful post!
Means a lot to me... the one thing that huts me in my parenting is FEAR. It's a mess when I let fear creep in. Two of my kids are grown, but it still happens!
Fear and faith cannot abide together!
I loved your letter on fear or love. It's every mothers challenge. My children are all adults and I still have to choose to give advice (when asked) out of love and faith, not fear. Lord help us all to grow in your grace and love.
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