Fear.

Fear is such a strange concept.  People can be afraid of things as small as spiders or things as big as hurricanes, and it has always baffled me...the mere fact that we can get ourselves so worked-up and anxious about things is just bizarre! For me, I'm absolutely terrified of thunderstorms. Some people love them and want to be outside during a downpour, but I get really freaked out. I get anxious and nervous and I'm not even sure why....I've never had any bad experiences with storms. But even when I was younger, I remember going over to my best friend Jynni's house on nights it was storming and we'd have a sleepover to keep each other "safe". It made us feel better just knowing we could both be scared together.
Keeping all this in mind, today there was a tornado watch and a thunderstorm outside...and I was terrified. I was so anxious sitting by the window while lightning was streaking across the sky that I had to get up and walk around in order to keep myself distracted. I found a spot in the library since you can't see or hear the storm from there, and I went on my laptop. I logged into Twitter and was scrolling down my homepage, when lo and behold I saw a post I had written merely 3 hours prior. I had completely forgotten that I posted it....It read, "Cast all your anxiety on Him because He cares for you. -1 Peter 5:7." I'm so terrible at taking my own advice! Here I am Tweeting about casting our anxiety on the Lord, but then freaking out about thunder and lightening a few hours later. There is no fear in the Lord! He says in Isaiah 41:10 "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." There is nothing to be afraid of when you have God by your side. It's no accident that I read that Tweet when I did. It was just the reminder I needed that God is always in control.
My favorite verse comes from Psalm 18:2. It says "The Lord is my rock, my fortress, and my savior; my God is my rock, in whom I find protection. He is my shield, the power that saves me, and my place of safety..." So there's honestly no need to fear something as small as a thunderstorm. It may seem big at the time, but it's NOTHING when compared to how big and strong my God is! He's the ROCK that saves me! This doesn't mean that I'm instantly cured from my fear...because quite frankly, I'm still scared pantsless of storms. But this definitely does help me feel better about the whole thing. And who knows, maybe saying these verses the next time there's a storm can help me conquer my fear all together. :)

Patience.

Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.

-Romans 12:12 

God has been teaching me patience recently. Let me just say, it's much more difficult than I thought it would be. In chapel a while ago, the speaker was talking about patience and how it isn't just about learning to wait for something. It's also choosing not to retaliate when we have the opportunity to. This really struck me...how many times have I been tempted to give people a taste of their own medicine? And how many times have I actually acted on those temptations? Sadly, I've done this far too many times.
I asked God to help me become more patient, and boy is he doing it. There have been many times lately where I'm tempted to be crabby with people or retaliate because of something they've done or said to me. Each time though, I can hear that little reminder telling me that I NEED to be patient. Patience is a way of showing love to people. This is yet another way we can try to love our neighbors the way they deserve to be loved. It's so crucial that we stop thinking of others as objects. I've said this before in my blog posts, but we need to see people as walking stories. We underestimate just how talented people are at hiding their hurts. You and I don't know what internal battles people are going through... Someone could be wearing a smile, yet they're dead or hurting inside. We all know this, because we've ALL been through it in one way or another. Keeping all this in mind, it goes without saying that there's no legitimate reason we should treat anyone poorly. And quite frankly, it doesn't hurt to treat people with kindness. Obviously I'm not perfect and I fail in showing patience and kindness often, but I'm praying that God will keep reminding me of how I need to treat others. And not only that He'll remind me, but that I'll follow His instruction.
I'm not entirely sure what drove me to write this post...I think it's mostly just serving as another reminder to myself. And maybe it can be a sort of accountability thing with those around me who I know will read this. Sometimes writing out my current struggles helps me to fully focus on them....but maybe these few paragraphs can even inspire you to start working on the same thing in your life.