Pop Went The Weasel

“What if the thing you really feared happened? Would the joy you hold pop? Or would you experience love and joy deeper than you can imagine?”

Wow. What if the thing you feared happened? Would the joy you hold pop? These two sentences alone interrogate me. These two sentences alone reveal a journey I found myself on.

Facing my fears, moreover encountering my fears, because “facing your fears” requires courage and that was not the case, and letting my joy pop was an ugly experience. 

I haven’t been on here for a while, probably because I couldn’t face what I was really going through. I desperately needed to get to a place where I could and would choose to be real about it. In every area. 

Isn’t it crazy how you always have a choice in every situation? Whether you entered the situation willfully or not, you still get a choice in your response despite the origin of your circumstance.

Recently, I found myself in the midst of one of my greatest fears and it had to do with everything that was against my ideology. It was the opposite of how I vision my life to play out. Dare I say it, I let fears form me. I let fear control me and I let fear steer me away from my real problem: me and my will.

 When you allow fear to form you, you distort reality, you lose your perspective, and you forget your purpose and His promises. You really prolong the process of overcoming fear and begin to befriend fear.

When I befriended fear, I allowed it to control me. As it was distorting my reality, I was convinced I was “giving up control” and finding that I was trying to stay in control, because I really wasn’t letting go of my ideas, my desires, and my ways (or the things that didn’t go my way; my hurts, disappointments). I let my mind drift off and escape reality. I lost my perspective in everything. I couldn’t see past how I felt, and sometimes became hurtful to others. Because I was so fixated on the things that I didn’t get or that happened, I did not see the blessings and opportunities right in front of me. I lost sight of my purpose and that hurt the most. Purpose is everything. Your life has purpose even if you don’t know it; “I know the plans that I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and future.”

Purpose is the reason for which something exists or is done, it’s determination, and it is a desired result or aim (a.k.a. future). It’s covered in God’s promises over your life and is discovered in His truth, His Word, and His presence. It’s found in His Joy- the Joy of the LORD that is your strength. And that’s where I lost it. I let unwanted circumstances and my desires take precedent over God’s. The very thing that would have gotten me through was His joy; the true joy that is only found in God and is the very source of any strength that I would have had...I let go of  and grabbed tight to “my will” the moment fear of letting go weaseled in. I could of dealt with my greivences with my God and not forsaken His joy, If I just wouldn't have given into fear. 

So if you find yourself in fear and in its many forms, don't forsake His presence or will, don't forsake his joy and let fear of letting go or facing it take precedent in your life. Position yourself to overcome it and allow him to take you deeper still. 

"..do not greive, for the joy of the LORD is your strength." Nehemiah 8:10 NIV

"The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trust in him, and he helps me. My heart leaps for joy, and with my song I praise him." Psalm 28:7 NIV

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"You have armed me with strength for the battle." Psalm 18:39