Got Some Jungle Fears?

Fresh Manna 2009© by Renee Burt

When I was a little girl, I had an inordinate fear of quicksand. Why? Was I born in a place where there was quicksand that I passed on my walk to school every day? Did I know someone who had suffered a slow demise in quicksand…which we only knew about, because we later found their hat resting atop the quicksand? No! There isn’t any quicksand where I grew up. And I didn’t know anyone who had perished in quicksand! So where did that fear come from? I had watched too many Tarzan movies! And if I want to be really transparent with you, I had a number of other “jungle fears.” It sounds funny to write about…in fact, I laughed when I wrote this. But at the time, those fears were real…they were terrifying…and they literally caused me to lose sleep.

Sound like something you’re experiencing now? I’m not talking about “jungle fears,” but the kind that are close to home. Maybe you’ve had sleep-stealing fears about your finances, health, or relationship problems with your spouse or kids. Or maybe you feel fear rise up in you every time you listen to the news. Fear is no laughing matter. So what can you do about it? Realize that fears will attack your mind, but you have a heavenly force to combat them…it’s called faith! Faith that God is will never leave you or forsake you…Faith that He’s at work in the difficult situations of your life…Faith that He has a good plan for your life…Faith that He is your protector, provider, healer, comforter, and friend! But you’ll only have that force of faith if you go after it and grab hold of it. Because the thing that got people free from being sucked down into quicksand in those Tarzan movies was when they grabbed hold of something strong and pulled themselves out! And it’s no different with the fears that try to suck you down. So grab hold of the thing that will help you get free of your fears…faith in His strong and sure promises!

Hebrews 10:23 AMP ~ So let us seize and hold fast and retain without wavering the hope we cherish and confess and our acknowledgement of it, for He Who promised is reliable (sure) and faithful to His word.

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