Real Hope: Fear NotMfano

Doing It Afraid

The bags were stuffed full, ready for an unbelievable 5 am start the next day. I nervously checked and re-checked my list. Six days of hiking with a 15-kilogram pack in the Snowy Mountains. It had been years since I’d braved the camping scene. Would I be able to cope without my iPhone and coffeemaker? What if my back gave way? 

You know it well. That nauseous feeling in your stomach; that overwhelming pull to run away. 

Following God means we often find ourselves here. The Holy Spirit seems to delight in leading us to do new things, pushing us beyond the boundaries of safety and into a position of trust. In the fear zone, we meet ourselves and God in a new way.

I think of my mum who learned to swim at 63, a friend who ventured to India for the first time, a student who overcame her shyness greeting people in the church foyer every week. Confronting their fears and doing it anyway.

I am not sure those feelings ever go away. Growing in God means we will find ourselves in a never-ending cycle of facing fear and then finding faith.

written by TANIA HARRIS