I John 4:18 says, “There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out all fear.”
John 10:10b says, “I have come that they may have life and have it abundantly.”
Fear and abundant life do not mix. I can tell you this from experience. I have spent a lot of my life living out of fear. So I decided that moving half-way around the world would be a good chance to work on getting over some of my fears. I have come to be intimately acquainted with Christ’s perfect love and through that have done many things this year that I normally would have too afraid to even attempt. And boy have I lived an abundant life! Who knows, you might even find me on a surf board before this year is up. 😉
The current task: Swimming. I have had a deathly fear of water for many years. Sure, I might swim in a pool providing I could touch the bottom, but I HATED to get in any type of lake or ocean. I also hated having my head under the water. That fear has caused many a panic attack and fit of tears in my life. However, God must have a sense of humor because He moved me to an island in the middle of the Pacific ocean. And not only that, but He moved to an apartment on the beach on a beautiful tropical island in the middle of the ocean. Thus I figured I should just face this fear head on and figure out how to defeat it. It has been a slow battle, but the final step was asking a lady from church to give me swimming lessons in preparation for a triathlon I would like to do in March. I do know how to swim, I mean, I wouldn’t drown if you threw me in the water, well, at least not from lack of being able to swim. I might from fear:) But I want to be able to swim in a race. I had my first lesson Saturday and it went great! She is the most amazing teacher and so so patient with me. Sunday I went out and swam for as long as I could and got up to a whole 40 seconds without stopping. But determined to win this battle, I got out in the ocean again today and was able to swim for 70 seconds without stopping! I swam for about 13 minutes total. I know, not impressive to most people. But for me, it was huge. You see, 6 months ago, I wouldn’t have put my face in that water if you paid me. Today, I managed to keep it in the water for 70 seconds straight. Slowly I am beating down that fear and replacing it with confidence. Perhaps it is unrealistic to think I will be able to swim 750 meters straight in two months, but I am sure going to try! Tomorrow we are going to try for a minute and a half straight! 🙂
