FRISSON OF FEAR

Frisson of fear is what happened to me as I waited for the latest biopsy results. 
Fear the antithesis of trust.

I  didn't scream out to others for prayer but I turned inward somewhat, though not exactly in a spiritual way. 

It was like a pall hanging over me---a dark pall of worry. 

Worry the antithesis of contentment & peace. (Philippians 4:6-7)*
Source of fear is NOT from the Lord. (2 Timothy 1:7)**
Discouragement can follow fear and dismay is close behind. (Isaiah 41:10)***

A bedside reminder from a dear friend and MAC mentor.

But God....in His love, mercy and great love reminded me of those truths from His Word. (Ephesians 2:4)

The biopsy was benign......but the diagnosis requires ongoing observation and treatment. Recently I had "bragged" to a friend that I now no longer had to go to doc every 6 months.
Lesson learned. No more bragging assumptions from me---I am not in control! 
"I am not in control" is a praise because I know the One who is sovereign.

Frisson of Fear be gone.

*For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.

**So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

***Be anxious for nothing; but in everything by prayer and supplication with   thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. 
And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

FEARLESS

The fearless have courage.  They are the brave ones.
I am more likely to possess that trait in the daylight hours.

The "fearful" talk that I  hear in my head between 2 and 4 am seems to come down from the ceiling---similar to a night in a ER hospital room when I heard announcements for a doctor, or a code blue.
A jolt of words that seem to "rattle" me and stay with me. Hard to get out of my head.

I, like a few other folks, need to fear less and trust more especially during the night watch. Those hours when the thoughts in one's head can resurrect fear.
More often than not, they are thoughts of which I have no control over the outcome---think worry. (Philippians 4: 6-7)

To be fearless in the wee hours, I need to fear less of those things which I cannot control and trust more in the One who controls everything.

Tonight's bedtime story will be the twenty-third psalm---

Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. (Psalm 23:4)

TEMPER THE HEAT

5/10/12 Each morning Mother always made her tea for the day. Right in the glass pitcher. She taught me  to make perfect tea by adding the sugar while the water was hot. (We never called it "sweet tea," it just always was.) To keep the glass from breaking, she always put a table knife in the pitcher and would pour the water so that it hit the knife first. I guess that somehow dispelled the heat.

I was reminded of this today as I read a “keep your spoon in the cup” incident described by the author in Surprised by Oxford, as her former professor was encouraging her, a “new” believer.

Keeping the spoon in the cup keeps the china from cracking under the heat, she explained…..The metal of the spoon becomes a conductor, protecting the delicate china from extreme in temperature.

You need to keep the spoon in the cup, Caro….especially when things get hot. God lifts us up, but He also grounds us. Fear will get into the cracks; fear ultimately is what breaks us apart. (Weber, 289)

I mulled my mother’s teaching with Weber’s analogy and some needed “fear” related verses. Mulling, Joshua 1:9, Psalm 16:8, Psalm 27:1-3, Isaiah 41:10, John 14:27, II Timothy 1:7 & Hebrews 13:6, as I drank my English tea in my Hadley stoneware mug from KY. What a combo!

Dispelled. Dispersed. Diffused. All good action words for tempering heat. Heat that comes from struggles and fear. Fear that will crack us wide open if we don’t allow the truth from God’s word to infuse us and thus diffuse the heat that can break us.