Wednesday, March 3, 2010

The Invisible Wall of Fear

(Below are Nicole's thoughts on Chapter 9 of The Dream Giver by Bruce Wilkinson. Please know that what we all learn from a study is usually different. Therefore we ask, if you feel like it, please share in the comments section what you got out of the reading as well. We're sure you'll lift someone's spirit.)

It's amazing what fear can do to us. Fear can keep us from doing many things, including pursuing our dreams.

In Chapter 9 of The Dream Giver, Bruce Wilkinson a.k.a. our Dream Coach, shows us how to find the courage to push past that fear. Chapter 9, Living Past the Edge, starts off with our dear friend Ordinary. Bruce reminds us of the time Ordinary pushed through his Wall of Fear and broke through his Comfort Zone. We all face these times in our lives. The time when we have to push past our Wall of Fear to break through our Comfort Zone. Bruce even shows us how Moses had to do this as well. Moses felt "Unworthy and Unable." On page 91, Bruce writes about how the Bible says "God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty." Bruce goes on to say "God purposely picks Unworthy and Unable Dreamers like you and me." We just need to find a way to push past the two most common Comfort Zone misconceptions. They are "Since I feel fear, my dream must not be from God" and "I can't go forward unless God takes my fear away." Instead of taking away our fear, God wants us to have courage. On page 94, Bruce writes "When you do act in courage, you discover that fear doesn't have to stop you." To me, the most important thing coming out of this chapter is how Bruce tells us that we should be constantly breaking through Comfort Zones. It should be an on going thing for us to be going through. I really like how Bruce ends this chapter by telling us that if we, as Dreamers, are not facing a Comfort Zone issue regularly, something is wrong. "Maybe we're once again stuck in Familiar."

I think this Wall of Fear and idea of breaking through our Comfort Zone would not be so much of a struggle for us if we knew what would happen next. What is on the other side? We all have our dreams. Your dream may have always been to teach people, to entertain people or even to have your own family. Maybe it's to reach out to others who are hurting, maybe it's to introduce more and more people to Jesus and show them how great life can really be, or maybe it's a miracle you've been waiting and waiting for. Whatever our dream, when we get to that Wall of Fear it can be paralyzing. It can make us stop in our tracks and not continue on or it can make us run the other way. It's hard to break through that Wall of Fear. But what if....what if our dream is right there. Right within arms reach. Maybe our miracle is two days away, two hours or even two seconds away. What if by you pushing through your fear of talking to that mom whose child was recently diagnosed and sharing with her how God has helped you, makes all the difference in the world to her? What if you push past your fear of rejection and share the gospel to another and it ends up saving a life? And what if, what if your miracle is just two steps away? Are you willing to give up any of these things because of fear? Because you don't want to leave your Comfort Zone?

I believe that God has all of us exactly where He wants us. He knows how difficult our lives can get. He knows how heartbreaking and confusing autism can be. However, He is here with us every step of the way. I don't know what each of your dreams are, but I believe that God wants to use all of us while we are pursuing our Big Dream to not only help each other but to reach out to moms who don't know God and don't know how much He does for us and how much more He can do, if we let Him.

My prayer this week is that we can not only get through our Wall of Fear, but that we can also be courageous enough to break through our Comfort Zones as well. Let's keep facing our fear head on. Let's keep breaking through our Comfort Zones. Let's imagine what we've been waiting for is right around the corner. Let's push through that invisible wall and do what Joyce Meyer always tells us to do...."Do it afraid!"-(Joyce Meyer)



Bible Verses:

Joshua 1:9 "For the Lord your God is with you wherever you go."

Deuteronomy 31:6 "Be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid of them! The Lord your God will go ahead of you. He will neither fail you nor forsake you."

1 Chronicles 28:20 "Then David continued, "Be strong and courageous, and do the work. Don't be afraid or discouraged by the size of the task, for the Lord God, my God, is with you. He will not fail you or forsake you. He will see to it that all the work related to the Temple of the Lord is finished correctly."

Isaiah 41:14 "Despised though you are, O Israel, don't be afraid, for I will help you. I am the Lord, your Redeemer. I am the Holy One of Israel."

6 comments:

aninont said...

Hello, I have been reading these pages for a few weeks now and I cannot tell you how much you have helped me. My son is 3 with autism and not making much progress... rather, I am so blind that I am not seeing much progress. God is slowly opening my eyes and I am able to enjoy him more each day. A few weeks ago, I felt that life was not worth it at all.. until I stumbled upon your blog. I have read so many blogs about autism moms doing this and that and creating miracles and recovering their kids etc etc but I needed to hear that GOD is with me and loves me and CAN still do miracles. My whole way of thinking has changed thanks to you. I have gone to Youtube and listen to Joyce meyer daily before I go to bed and I keep saying: god loves you, god loves you.
Thank you.
oh, I am not even Christian, I am hindu by religion but could not find something helpful in my religion/sprituality to help me understand.

I will email more later.

Rochester Mom

Nicole Collins said...

Oh Rochester Mom! I am praising God for you right now! Thank you so much for adding your thoughts and own challenges. Can I tell you that I have been struggling with continuing this blog? My own life is just as hectic. I actually thought maybe I shouldn't keep on doing this blog. I was at my own Wall of Fear. I continued on this week and broke through my Wall of Fear knowing that God wants us to continue this blog. You are the blessing on the other side of my wall. You have shown me how God is reaching others through this blog. We are so honored to have you as a reader. Thank you for sharing and know that we are praying for you and your family. If you need us to pray for something in specific for you, feel free to post it under the Prayer Requests section or if you want to email privately please do so!
That goes for all of our readers. We are here for you to pray with you, pray over you, to do whatever we can to be a support system to you. Feel free to email me if you'd like....ncollins2@nc.rr.com
As Rochester Mom put it in her last comment....God does love us. He loves us so much and is with us every step of the way. Please don't ever forget that! Praying for you all!

Nicole Collins said...

You know, I've been thinking about this chapter alot today. The one thing that I remember the most of what Bruce wrote was what I touched on above with if we knew what would happen on the other side of our fear, we wouldn't be scared. It's just like in our life...if we knew what would happen next we wouldn't be fearful of the future, what the weather would bring tomorrow, etc....But if you think about it, if we knew what would happen next, how much time would we really spend with God? After thinking about this all day today, I've come to the conclusion that I don't want the fear to go away. I don't want God to take away my fear cause it's the moments when I am the most fearful that I draw closer to Him. It's in those moments that I spend the most time with Him. It's during those times that I completely come to Him for help. Isn't this what this life is about any ways, Him and His Will? It's so easy for us to get caught up in things of this world and what we feel we need. But I've come to a realization today that there's something bigger out there and I want to be a part of that. To me, I want to help Him do things now to help us all spend Eternity together in Heaven. It's still going to be a big struggle for me to remember this and to keep looking at the bigger picture. I still want my son to be healed. I still want my life to be at it's fullest. However, I also know that God is with me every step of the way and He wants the best for my son even more than I do. I also have to remember, as Phillipians 4:13 says "I can do all things through Christ who strenghtens me."

Jessica said...

Rochester Mom- Thank you so much for your comment and for joining us. You have touched my heart so much and we are so glad to have you with us, welcome! Please know that we are praying for you and are supporting you in all that you deal with. You are so right, God loves you SO much and as long as you stick with Him, He will continue to reveal Himself to you more and more. Joyce Meyer is wonderful, and has made a big impact on my life as well. I will say a special prayer that God moves in a huge way in your life and heart and for continued blessings on you and your family. Know that you are not walking this alone and are indeed so very, very loved.

aninont said...

Dear Nicole and Jessica,
Thank you again. It is 10.30 pm in Rochester now and a great time for the devil to play games with my mind. My kids are in bed, I cant sleep and I fight with these horrible thougthts.During one such night my thoughts suddenly went to the days when I was pregnant with my DS, and realised that I probably did not take good care of myself, probably did not pray enough for a healthy baby... probably did not eat good quality protein .. we are vegetarians and was I deficient in vitamin B12?
These thoughts made my feel so bad that I concluded that I am the cause of my sons autism. I was beside myself. I could not go to work, could not bear to look at other kids, or other pregnant women.. then I came upon your blog.I read the part of the reason to hope. I really think that that saved my life.
Then I started listening to Joyce and am learning about how to deal with the past and how to let go?
The guilt trip.. is so hard. Guilt is devil himelf.

Again, I want to say that please know that your kind words of encouragement,your connection of spirituality and autism and our journey is very important to me.
Thanks for the prayers.

God loves us all.Good night.

Jessica said...

I wanted to share this because it made me think of yesterday's post (It was also the first scripture that you included Nicole!) Today's verse on Biblegateway.com was

Joshua 1:9
"Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go."

This has been a crazy week for me and the weight of the ongoing stress has left me feeling so tired and frazzled. God has been reminding me in scripture and through other people that I should not be afraid over the past week. He wants us to be at peace and to work in every area of our lives. This was another confirmation of this and I wanted to share.