Fears

My mother was terrified of water.  She would even take a bath because she hated shower water spraying on her face.  It all stemmed from an event in her past.  It seems that she, her younger sister, and her mother went swimming in a country pond.  My mother dove into the water, which was shallower than she remembered.  Her hands were immediately stuck in the mud on the bottom of the pond.  Her sister and their mother thought that she was doing a handstand for them, and they were clapping at her feet wiggling above the surface of the water.  My mother finally pulled free of the mud in the pond and came to the surface gasping for breath.  She never swam again.  She made me and my younger brother wear life vests until we learned to swim.  We swam twice a week in Deer Creek up in the country near our home.  By the middle of summer, my brother and I realized that those life vests were water-logged and that we had been swimming for a month.  We just had to convince my paranoid mother.  After a trip across the creek and back, she was a believer.  She was relieved that we could swim.  I understood my mother’s fear of water.  It didn’t make sense to me, but it was very real to her.  Hey, do you have any fears?  Are they based in reality or are they just phobias?  Always remember that you can bring your fears to the dear Lord.  He will calm your mind.  Paul reminds Timothy of God’s power in II Timothy 1:7 where he says, “For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.”  Don’t be afraid.  Trust in God.  He will carry you safely through to the other side … whether it’s Deer Creek or the chilly waters of the Jordan at death.  The Lord will be there with you all the way.