Fear shows up in many ways with many different faces and some of those ways have been written about this week:
Kathy quotes Bishop Steven Charleston, one of my favorite daily devotional writers,
“No, fear and hate will never have the last word. Love will.”
Susanna writes about her planner and her fear of unpreparedness and surprise. We may have be long-lost sisters!
“Surprising God, I need you to help me utilize my gift of planning and preparedness in ways that are helpful.”
Pulpit Shenanigans is sharing her experience about feeling safe when the space, physical or vocational, feels familiar.
“I am afraid of things that become familiar, when I feel good about things, when I’m happy.”
Katherine considers and identifies with Mary’s fears,
“I know the terror of those moments and hours of feeling out of control, helpless when I didn’t know where a child was and the dark thoughts and the hope swirl around, bumping into one another, vying for power and waiting to see who will be victorious in the coming reality.”
What are you blogging about these days, dear sisters? Where is you fear and how does it show up in your daily life?
Prayers for God’s perfect love to envelop you and help you feel safe and beloved. Happy Easter!
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Having suffered a number of serious losses in the last year, I find myself in a breathing space but afraid of what comes next. I know God has a plan, and I’m scared to death that God has a plan, because I’m not in charge of it and don’t know how gracious and yielding I can be about being obedient and happy to respond to it.
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I can so identify with that – (((jesusfreak2016))) I try to pray Wesley’s Prayer of Self-Dedication confidently but I know I fall short all the time.
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I am no longer my own, but yours.
Put me to what you will, rank me with whom you will;
put me to doing, put me to suffering;
let me be employed for you, or laid aside for you,
exalted for you, or brought low for you;
let me be full,
let me be empty,
let me have all things,
let me have nothing:
I freely and wholeheartedly yield all things
to your pleasure and disposal.
And now, glorious and blessed God,
Father, Son and Holy Spirit,
you are mine and I am yours. So be it.
And the covenant now made on earth, let it be ratified in heaven.
Amen.
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Though the sun fail, I will always be grateful to my clergy sisters for their wisdom and encouragement. Thanks, Amyphanie!
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I’m interested in “God has a plan.” I used to think that more than lately. Is that a phrase to make us feel more comforted? I don’t know. I am beginning to believe that God guides us but the plan that is executed is our choice? What do you think?
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I am generally not a user of the “god has a plan” thing except in the Jeremiah 29 sense (plans for your welfare, not your harm). I do think God’s plan for all creation will be fulfilled. On the more individual level, I think we participate in that bigger plan, and I think God has a hand in how we go through life…not in a fatalist or deterministic way, and definitely not in the fore-ordained way, but in a more mysterious way than that. I definitely believe we are not in control, and also that sometimes when we are uncertain and begging God for a sign that the lack of one implies that God trusts us with the choice and will work with whatever way we go.
in other words, I’m a Calvinist who’s comfortable with mystery. lol. #nothelpful
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My fear is related to waiting for a kidney transplant. I have been on dialysis for eight hours every day for over a year. It is a lifesaving treatment that also enslaves you to a machine. The odd thing is that my fear comes from the thought of getting a transplant and whatever comes from that. Dialysis feels safe and comfortable. Surgery does not.
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oh my, that is so much uncertainty and heaviness to carry. I’ll be holding you in the light, praying that the possibility of transplant may come soon and with comfort and courage to meet the challenges, whatever they may be.
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Thank you so much, Teri. I so appreciate your thoughts and prayers.
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I hear you. We can both want the new and be afraid of what it will be like, even in serious medical situations. I am holding you in prayer.
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Thank you so much, Martha. I so appreciate your prayers.
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Praying for and with you, Kathy, for comfort, for clarity, and love to enfold you.
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I so understand the feelings that jesusfreak2016 writes about. Afraid of what comes next is such real fear.
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I suspect that you will also be giving up some community that you may have built at the dialysis center once a transplant has been achieved. I will add my prayers to the others here. Peace be with you.
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Prayers that God will sustain you and give you confidence that your world will expand exponentially when you are no longer tied to a machine. Prayers also for a successful surgery and swift healing in the hands of God.
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