F.E.A.R and What You Can Do About It

You’ve probably experienced it. The time when something happens to you, major or minor, and the first person you tell turns around and tells you a story about so and so who had the same thing happen to them, and their horrific outcome. So it was when I discovered a tick buried in my side. I won’t go into all the treatments my mom immediately launched, and the doctor visit, but let’s just say we did all we could to hopefully prevent disease down the road. I wasn’t worried, determined to turn the results over to God.

First person I tell? A beloved friend. First thing she does? Tells the horrors of Lyme disease and how it may not show up for years.

Next person I tell? My beloved boss. First thing she does? Tells of her friend who had a tick and how full blown Lyme developed after four years, eventually putting her friend on disability.

I was tempted to start worrying.

That same weekend, my boss had awful blisters on her heels. Someone asked why she was limping, and after she told them, they launched into a story about so and so who had the same type blisters, got infected and died.

These reaction stories aren’t meant to implant fear in your heart. Often the person telling them does it to keep you from experiencing the same horrors as someone they know. But if you’ve already done everything you can, there’s not much encouragement in a sad story.

Same thing with failure. Have you ever shared a dream with someone and they immediately tell you about someone just like you who failed at the same thing?

Here comes the fear.

Fear of failure is paralyzing. But really, it’s no different than taking every precaution you can for your health problem, and then not worry about what could go wrong. Why even fear something unless it exists?

When you start out to live the life God’s called you to, you can’t let the fear of failure stop you. You just take every possible precaution, do your due diligence, and then do it.

We can choose not to fear, to give our worries over to God. That choice is a daily, sometimes by the minute, decision.

Here’s a good breakdown of fear Robert Kiyosaki (Rich Dad, Poor Dad author) uses:

False

Evidence

Appearing

Real

What false evidence is stopping you today? Share your fears in the comments and leave them there.

For Him,

Sarah Elisabeth

I Am A Writer - Jeff Goins Video Contest

I made this video for Jeff Goins' contest to declare yourself a writer. I am. Here's my public declaration, with the help of some of the greatest all time writers:  

I am a writer, home business owner, daughter, sister, aunt, niece, cousin, friend, and child of the King. What are you? Declare it in the comments!

Update: Here are the contest winners. This little video received an Honorable Mention: http://goinswriter.com/contest-winner/

You Can Do It Too

God gave writing back to me in August, 2010. I discovered Faithwriters.com and committed to entering the Writing Challenge every week until I reached the Master's level. I achieved that in just under a year, but kept going for a total of sixteen months straight. Some of my other achievements are harder to measure, it's more of a feel. I no longer feel in the dark now, and felt at home in Elizabeth Sherrill's Master's Writing Workshop a few weeks ago.

None of this is to boast. It's just to say that if I can become what God's called me to be, you can too.

For Him,

Sarah Elisabeth

The Best Gift You Can Give

I face one of the year’s hardest problems every Mother’s Day. You don’t have to know me long to know I adore my parents, that my mom is still my bestest friend I hold hands and skip along with. I love my mama so much I have no idea what to get her for Mother’s Day. To make matters worse, her birthday is right around May’s corner, June 20. A few ideas are coming to a boil on my mind’s stove, but nothing as fantastic as she deserves.

When a birthday of a close friend or birthday comes around, you may be like me, totally clueless what to offer them. “It’s the thought that counts” helps, but what if it were the prayer that counted?

Hence forth, I’m making sure no birthday or honoring day passes under my radar where I don’t bow my head for twenty seconds and say over a prayer over that person’s life. There is power in prayer.

Aside from prayer love, what’s the best gift you’ve ever received or given?

And Happy Mother’s Day to all you great moms reading my blog, especially my own. I love you, Mama! Praying for you always.

For Him,

Sarah Elisabeth

Why Do Novels Matter?

There’s truth in fiction. Sometimes more than we want to admit. But it’s a safe way to learn and experience truth about ourselves, our struggles, and our faith. Nonfiction gives it to the reader straight, a great approach to subjects and themes relating to the human soul. Still, confronting a subject head-on is something we don’t like, especially if it’s unpleasant or downright horrible truths about ourselves.

Enter fiction. We step back and watch someone who’s more real than our next door neighbor and recognize bits and pieces of our own heart in action. We see ourselves from a safe distance.

Cancer, loss of job, car accidents. What good can come of the trials and troubles beating our already weary bodies back into the dirt from which we came? In the midst of crisis, a direct message or true to life story draws too real of a comparison with our own situation. The pain deepens with the continual burn of “why?”

Enter fiction. The more realistic, the better, yet it still lets us hold the pages away from our wounds while applying a salve we didn’t know it contained. We evaluate our agony from a safe distance.

What of faith—or lack of? Who is God? What’s His place or power in your life? How can He restore a heart as broken and reeking of garbage as ours? Why so many questions? Do I really want to know the answers?

Enter fiction. Hiding behind the words of a make believe world, we peek out at the interactions between a Father and child. We watch and wonder. We may even pray, because our questions about God were asked and answered from a safe distance.

When we see things from a distance, it suddenly feels safe to take a closer look at ourselves, our troubles, our God. All through the safety of fiction woven in the fabric of truth. That’s the power of a novel, and why the novel matters.

Why do novels matter to you? I'd love to chat about it in the comments.

For Him,

Sarah Elisabeth