There Might Be Monsters
For God has not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. 2 Tim 1:7 (KJV)
Fear is a very real emotion. While the emotion is a valid emotion, what the fear relates to may not always be valid. I know this from my own life experiences with fear, as well as from watching the people around me.
For example, we have four kids. They stagger in age from six to fourteen, and because of their varying ages they go to bed at different times. Kylie, our youngest, is the first to go to bed. Occasionally, we ask her to go upstairs and get ready for bed, while all the rest of the family is downstairs. Every time this happens, without fail, she gets very upset, bursts into tears and says, “I can’t go upstairs by myself… I’m scared! I can’t do it, I can’t!” You see, in Kylie’s mind, she thinks there might be monsters or strange people upstairs out of sight, just waiting for her to come up so they can jump out and scare her, or grab her. I remember thinking things like that when I was little. I was afraid to look under my bed at night because of what might be underneath.
Hopefully, all of us who are now adults have outgrown our fear of the dark, or of what might be lying beneath our beds. But our imaginations are still very active, and our thoughts can produce feelings of fear that cause us to shrink back or hesitate to go boldly after the life God has for us. Fear of failure, fear of what people are thinking, fears of not being successful or of not accomplishing all we think we are supposed to, fear that we will fail as parents or spouses, fear that things will never change, are just a few of the many fears that we can struggle with. We can become paralyzed with thoughts of things that are not even a part of our reality; a fear of what might be, or of what might happen.
I love the reminder that God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. Fear is not from God, and when fear thoughts pop up in our mind we need to move quickly to get those thoughts in line with God’s word and our hearts fixed back in a position of trust in Him. As we trust Him, surrender our lives to Him, depend on Him to empower us and keep our eyes on Him, He turns our fears into faith.
So, the next time fear thoughts pop up in your mind, remind yourself what God’s word says about your situation Remember that He loves you and has plans for your life – to prosper you and not to harm you; plans to give you a hope and a future (Jer 29:11). Affirm the truth to chase away the thoughts, imaginations, and lies of the enemy – Greater is He that is in you, than He that is in the world (1 John 4:4). You can do all things through Him who gives you strength (Phil 4:13), and God will never leave you nor will He ever forsake you (Heb 13:5). Then boldly continue to move forward in faith, believing the best is yet to come!
Copyright © 2012 by Amy O’Donnell. All Rights Reserved.
From Loyalty to Destiny
Friendships and key relationships can have a huge impact on our lives. We often can’t see in the moment where a relationship or a decision regarding one may lead us down the road.
One great example of this from the Bible is the story of Naomi and Ruth. Ruth was Naomi’s daughter-in-law who was determined to return back to Naomi’s homeland, Bethlehem, with Naomi; rather than stay in Moab where she was from, after both of their husbands and Naomi’s other son passed away. As the two women arrived in Bethlehem, everyone ran out to greet and welcome Naomi back. As they called out to her by name, she corrected them and told them to call her Mara, which means bitter, rather than Naomi. This request shows Naomi was in a pretty dark place. Despite the sadness of the situation and of her mother in law, Ruth remained faithful. She set out to work to bring in food, and just happened to end up working in a field that belonged to one of Naomi’s relatives, Boaz. Being a relative provided him an opportunity to marry Ruth and serve as a kinsmen redeemer, which gave the women the ability to maintain their land, be provided for and protected. Ruth acted on Naomi’s advice to bring this to Boaz’s attention, and he acted on it and took her as his wife.
After marrying, Ruth and Boaz had a son, who was placed in Naomi’s arms to be raised as her own look after her in her old age. That son’s name was Obed, the Father of Jesse, the Father of David, in the line of Christ.
One relationship lead Ruth to her destiny and provided healing and hope for Naomi. One decision to stay loyal through thick and thin kept Ruth on track for God’s plan to unfold.
Just as this story is a great example for us in our relationships, it is also an example of God’s faithfulness to us. Just as he brought beauty of the ashes of this story, He is faithful to redeem our hurts and bring us out of our darkness into light, just as it says in Isaiah 60:1, “Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD rises upon you.”
Remember God is faithful to complete what He begins! Stay the course, stay connected, stay faithful to those God has placed in your life and allow your story to unfold in a way that brings God glory!!
We Need Each Other
This past Saturday, our family was out putting up Shoreline West door hangers in a nearby West neighborhood. We do this each week, along with some of the West leaders, to help spread the word about Shoreline West and invite people to our church. We love to bring our children along when we go. David, Russel and I walk. The younger three bring their scooters, because they can go further and faster with them than they are able to go on foot.
As we were finishing up the neighborhood; Kylie, Brendan and I split up from the others to go down one last street. As we walked past the first few houses on each side, we soon realized the houses were ending and there was just park land beyond them, so we turned around to head back to the car. As soon as we did, we realized how big the hill was we had just walked down. We had no choice but to go back up!
At one point, as I was walking up the hill, I looked back and found my daughter standing on the sidewalk, with her shoulders slumped, and her scooter on the ground beside her. By that time, Kylie (who’s just 6 years old), was getting pretty tired. When I called to her, she said she could not make it any further. I was a few yards ahead of her, and I told her, “If you can make it to me, I will pull you the rest of the way.” She slowly picked up her scooter and started riding toward me. When she caught up, I reached down and grabbed the handlebars of her scooter, and pulled her the rest of the way up the hill(and got a good arm work out of my own). 
This story illustrates what life can be like for us sometimes. We can face mountains that seem unclimbable, situations that make us feel like we should just quit – that we can’t go any further, are too tired, too young, too old, too weak. We can feel isolated and alone in our feelings when those times come. We first need to remind ourselves, when those thoughts rise up, that we are never alone. We always have Jesus with us. The bible says He never leaves us nor does he ever forsake us. Crying out to him brings strength and empowerment to keep going. We also have the people God has placed in our world, to reach out to for support and encouragement when needed.
Ecclesiastes 4:9-10 says, 9 Two people are better off than one, for they can help each other succeed. 10 If one person falls, the other can reach out and help. But someone who falls alone is in real trouble.
There is so much wisdom for life in these verses! Together we are stronger and better equipped to handle life’s ups and downs. When you feel those challenging moments come, remember to look up at Jesus, and call out to those in your world who can be a support to you.
Radical Generosity
I want to share with you a story of gratitude and generosity – about a woman whose life was so transformed by the grace and love of Jesus that loving him back with all she was and all she had was her natural, passionate response. Perhaps you have heard of her, her name was Mary. She and her sister Martha were very close to Jesus, they spent quite a bit of time with him, and he even brought their brother Lazarus back to life after he died.
During a very special meal, Mary poured expensive perfume, worth a year’s wages, on Jesus’ feet and wiped it off with her hair. Such an extravagant gift! Can you imagine taking a year’s worth of wages, spending it on perfume and then using it all at one time, for one purpose, on one person?
But for Mary, pouring generosity back on Jesus was an outpouring of love from her heart for all that he had done in her life. He had taught her, spent time with her, and healed her brother! She had learned that as she put him first, she would be taken care of in every way, just as it says in Matthew 6:33, “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”
To seek first the Kingdom, you have to seek first the king of the kingdom, and that’s what Mary did. She sought Jesus. She sat at his feet to the point that she got in trouble, when her sister thought she should be more hospitable. She learned to trust that as she sought Him first, everything else would fall into place.
Just as Jesus did a great work in the life of Mary, and in many other lives we have the privilege to read about in the Bible, He is still doing the same work in our lives today. Hebrews 13:8 says, “Jesus Christ is the same, yesterday, today and forever.” He is still in the miracle working business, still healing, still restoring and repairing, mending and forgiving.
Whatever you are in need of today, I hope this story is an encouragement and a reminder of who our God is, and that as you put him first he will take care of you in such a way, that you will not be able to hold back from pouring all you are, and all you have, back to him and the people around you – to bring him glory.
Copyright © 2011 by Amy O’Donnell. All Rights Reserved
Jesus Understands You
I love the way each Christmas Season we focus on and celebrate Jesus’ birth and gift of life and all it means to us. That the son of God came down from heaven, to live and dwell among us – fully God and fully man, to die for us, and to be raised back again, so that we could have forgiveness of sin and access to God, is a beautiful thing.
Jesus humbling himself by coming to earth as a man, made him able to relate to us, and almost all of us would probably agree, feeling someone can relate to us, that they understand us, is important.
For example, when my sweet little seventeen year old dog died, I was flooded with messages from people – most could relate at some level and offered words of encouragement from their own experiences and love for their pets. Many of them understood.
With our kids, the root of most of the arguments and talking back is a deep desire to be understood (doesn’t make it right, but it does make it understandable ). For husbands and wives, most disagreements happen for the same reason – we all value feeling heard and understood.
Jesus, came. In love he came in the form of a baby. He grew, walked and talked just like us. He has been there, gone through that – He felt the pain of betrayal, of friends turning their backs on Him, of being misrepresented, of being judged, abused, mistreated, and misunderstood. He knows what it is to cry when a loved one is lost and to feel joy at life’s celebration moments.
Yes, this Christmas we celebrate the gift of Jesus to the world. We also celebrate that with that gift came the ability for us to know our God understands us.
When we go to him in prayer, when we need to talk, need comfort or when we are hurting, we can boldly lift those needs up in prayer, just as it says in Hebrews 4:15, 16 – For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin. 16 Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.
Whatever you are in need of today… Jesus understands! Take it boldly to him.
Amy O'Donnell
