Victory Over Fear

The other night , my team and I wrote our fears down on a sticky note & burned them. When I was told that I have to write my fears down I was immediately fearful. My jaw dropped. I began to write things down, and ended up filling my  bright orange sticky note top to bottom with fears that have been lingering in my mind since I can remember. When writing these things, I was under the impression that they would not have to be shared with my team. However, as we picked up our sticky notes to take them outside to be burned; we stood in a circle & I didn’t think much of this exercise because I knew that me burning a piece of paper would not take my fears away. I was just not amused by it. Then my teammates began talking about how good it would be if we all shared out loud what we had written and I panicked. My eyes widened. I stared across the circle at my teammate, Ella, hoping she was just as nervous as I was. More fear filled my body; I let out a few nervous laughs & had one of those “is it hot in here or is it just me?” moments. When it was my turn to share, my mind was running crazy. I stared at my paper wondering what I was going to say, when I could have literally just read the words written down. The seconds of me standing there thinking felt like a lifetime in my head. I could not bring myself to just say the words that were on that paper. & I started out by saying “okay, honestly. I need prayer over this because I am fearful of literally everything.” For me that was even a big step. Being able to say out loud that I have been living in fear and need prayer over that, already felt like I had a weight lifted off of me. So with the new, small confidence that I did have; I decided to just read the paper but skip over some things that I was dreading sharing. 

That is a victory. It’s a victory for me to share those few things. No, I couldn’t share every single word or detail, but it made such a difference to voice those fears! To voice them & know that they hold ZERO power over me. 

Once I shared, I threw my paper to the ground and said, “Let’s burn this thing!” (fun fact: I am not good with lighters, which is a good thing, but it took me four tries to burn this dang paper. lol) The paper began to burn and shrivel into nothingness. The fears written faded away. Watching it burn, I felt so empowered. Another victory.

At the bottom of that paper, I wrote “peace be here.” I wrote that as a prayer to the Lord, asking for His peace to be upon me. Thinking back on this exercise my team and I did, It meant so much more than just  burning a sticky note. Like I said previously, I knew that burning my fears was not dismissing any of my actual fear, but I felt a peace come over me in that moment..I felt peace knowing that there is no fear that is too big for Jesus, and that fear flees in Christ’s name. & with that peace there will be victory to come.  

The enemy uses fear to limit our victories. And I can truly be a witness to that, but why let the enemy have power over that? Why let him think he has won? Everyday when I get to wake up & declare that fear has no place in my life is a major victory!

What fears do you need to give to the Lord today that are hindering your victories?