Fear Not...

I just want to share an answer to prayer today. I don’t know what had happened over the past few months but my youngest daughter Taylor developed a fear of…well…pretty much everything, especially her Uncle Daniel’s dirt bike, which was parked in the back yard. This wouldn’t have been so bad, but Taylor has been so scared that she would not even play in the back yard. She would literally tremble if I took her out there; regardless of it was running or not.
During the summer, the back yard is supposed to be the center of all kid activity! There is no way a child can spend the summer in the house attached to Mommy’s hip. The other fear that developed is the fear of the pool…the only other place where kids should be (with parent supervision of course) when they are not in the back yard. This was making things very difficult for Mommy.

I asked Jen if she talked to Taylor about why she has been so afraid, and she had many times. She went through all the different questions, and tried to reason with her.

Is the bike running? – No!
Can the bike hurt you? – No!
Then go out and play – No!
Why? – I’m scared.
Can the bike hurt you? – No!
Then go out and play? – No!
Why? – Because I’m scared!

The same conversation took place about the Pool.

Come in the pool – No!
Why? – I’m scared.
Is Daddy going to let go of you? – No!
Is your life jacket going to let you go under water? – No!
Then come in the pool? – No!
Why? – Because I’m scared!

Well after our efforts to help Taylor overcome her fear failed, I did what I should have done from the very beginning. I took it to God. Now, I pray for my kids, and I thank God for them everyday, but for some reason I had not taken this issue to God, so I prayed for her while I was at work, and on my break I began to look up verses about fear, and I began putting together a little family devotion on “fear”. I preach that God’s Word has the answers, and yet for too long, I was trying to reason out Taylor’s fear, and give my answers to it…I say this in shame, I should have listened to my own preaching. God’s Word has the answers! The phrase “Fear Not” appears 62 times in the Bible, most of those times, it’s directly from God, and other times it is someone saying based on what God has already said. “Fear Not!”

Well I got home that day, with my little devotion in hand, and as I approached my front steps Taylor came running at me yelling “Daddy’s Home!”…from the back yard. What a God! I asked Jen why Taylor was in the backyard and she just shrugged her shoulders, and said “I don’t know, all of a sudden she was just ok with it” Thank You Lord!

Now we’ll see about getting her into that pool.