Fear is a Liar!
Pastor Jason Being a child of God, being a survivor, overcoming pain and challenges also comes with fear. It’s a natural part of our journey. And yet fear is, almost always, a liar!
Zach Williams talks about this in his song Fear is a Liar. Some of the fears that lie to us are…
- I am not strong enough.
- I’ll never be good enough.
- I’m not beautiful.
- No one loves me.
Young or old, these are some of the messages that our brain tells us when we are afraid. Do they really want me? Does my spouse really care? Am I doing enough? Will I ever really fit in?
Let me be more specific. I started thinking about how fear gets me through Facebook. I check in on friends, hear about all the people they went on some adventure with, I see all the pictures of everyone so happy. And then I get mad. I get angry because I wasn’t invited. I think I was left out. And when I pause to think about my feelings, my anger… Well, I realize its not really anger at all. It’s fear. I have a fear of being left out. I have a fear that this friend has moved on and doesn’t want a relationship with me anymore. I have a fear of being without this relationship. Fears speak these lies in my head. These fears convince me that since I got left out of this event, then that friend doesn’t love me anymore. But that’s not the truth!
My fears convinced me I wasn’t loved or wanted. They convinced me that my friends had left me. The truth is…NONE OF THAT!! Seeing a picture of a friend doing something without me, hearing a story that doesn’t involve me—has just that—nothing to do with me or that friend’s love of me. That event they went to without me DOES NOT mean they love me any less. Oh…what pain I would have avoided — FOR YEARS! — if I had realized that it was my fear speaking instead of truth.
And I wonder, how many of us are facing fears due to a worldwide pandemic like we have never experienced in our lifetime? Is it really safe to go out? What am I risking? What happens if…? Will life ever get back to normal? Will things feel the same if I get back out there? We’ve been gone for so long, will folks even notice or care if we aren’t there? These fears have consumed us for over a year now and sometimes they speak very loudly.
So, what do we do with our fears? How do we move on? When our fears paralyze us and leave us helpless, where do we go?
Peter got out of the boat and was walking on the water toward Jesus. 30 But when Peter saw the strong wind, he became frightened. As he began to sink, he shouted, “Lord, rescue me!”
Jesus immediately reached out and grabbed him…
Matthew 14:30-31
Click here to listen to the rest of Pastor’s Joanie’s message from Sunday
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Ladles of Love (LOL)
Our church family has an amazing team to committed folks who prepare and deliver over 25 meals every Thursday to the residents of Cottondale. In addition, we visit the homebound folks within our congregation and deliver food from the DUMA Food Pantry to around 8 people in the Dunn-Erwin area that simply cannot get out of their house to the Food Pantry for pickup.
Ladles of Love is a tremendous mission opportunity for every single person connected to our church family! You can help in so many ways that will fill your heart, your head and your soul with goodness. So here’s the thing: Don’t believe the lie that you cannot help just because it’s Thursday mornings!
There is a space for you to be part of Ladles of Love. You can prepare something simple ahead of time on Tuesday or Wednesday evening from your home. You can personally deliver a snack-meal after work on Thursday to one of our homebound folks. You can even tell us what you would like to do and we will find a way to make it happen!
Contact Pastor Jason, John Johnson, or Beulah Pope to talk about ways you can help!
This week:
Wednesday, July 28 – 12 noon Bible study on Proverbs
Thursday, July 29 – 10:00 am Ladles of Love Meal Delivery
Friday, July 30 – 12 noon Prayer & Devotion (online & Free Conference Call)
Sunday, August 1 – 10:30 am Worship
Upcoming Events
- August 6th – Movie Night in the Church Parking Lot with Pelican’s Snoballs
- August 8th – Church wide pool party at the Lashmit’s home
- August 8th – Church board meeting at the Lashmit’s home