Faith and Fear

It depends on where you go to church, what you hear about fear and faith.
I've heard a lot of different little quotes and adages about the two.
But most of them are extrapolations made by people.

I was on pinterest the other day, and saw this:

Photo credit

I wasn't looking for anything on the subject, I hadn't been thinking about it at all.

But once I read that, I started to think about it more.

I let it rattle around in my head all day.

Then I was working on a post, 

and needed to go through my photos, 

and I saw this:

This is me in my second labor.

This is me pushing.

This is me facing the scariest part of my biggest fear.

(My first baby was born via c-section after two hours of pushing and baby not budging.)

At this point, 

when the photo was taken,

I knew in my heart, 

to the very depths of me, this baby was going to be born here in my home. 

At this point I knew what He told me ahead of time was true.

But I also had never been more scared. (If you read my blog through my pregnancy, you might have noticed I had been pretty scared to get to that moment. ) In that moment, and the realness of fear was unlike anything I had ever experienced.

I didn't think I knew how to push a baby out. 

I had a lot of doubt.

I had an endless amount of fear.

And 

I had faith.

I had the confidence of His guiding, but I still felt scared.

It took faith for me to get in that pool and push.

It took faith for me

to get pregnant and face this moment again.

And I was terrified of it all.

I knew ahead of time that I would be walking in faith through the scariest thing I had ever done.

And come to find out, it was scary, and I was scared.

But

I had faith.

It was only by faith, and His strength, I could have done this stuff.

I think churches say, "You can't have fear and faith at the same time"- type-statements, hoping to build up faith.

But all it did for me was make me feel like a mess.

I questioned ALL THE TIME if I was seeking after God the right way in this.

Questioned if I was some how wrong, because...

I thought,

if I was in more faith, 

obviously I would be feeling differently.

But here and now, writing to you today,

I'm gonna have to say,

I think you can have faith while you have fear.

Actually,

I think that, likely, the strongest faith you'll ever have

will be

when you are afraid.

(Because that's when you will need faith the most.)

I'm not asking you to be afraid. 

And I'm not championing for fear -- clearly God doesn't want us to be afraid. 

There like like a billion verses saying, "Do not be afraid."

But I don't think those verses have any baring on whether or not you can still be in faith, if you are afraid.

Bible Story:

And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years. She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had, yet instead of getting better she grew worse.

She had heard the reports concerning Jesus, and she came up behind Him in the throng and touched His garment, For she kept saying, If I only touch His garments, I shall be restored to health.

Immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering.

At once Jesus realized that power had gone out from him. He turned around in the crowd and asked, “Who touched my clothes?”

“You see the people crowding against you,” his disciples answered, “and yet you can ask, ‘Who touched me?’ ”

But Jesus kept looking around to see who had done it. 

Then the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell at his feet and, 
trembling with fear, told him the whole truth.

He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.”

(From both Mark 5 and Luke 8, emphasis mine)

She was afraid, and had faith.

Some might say she didn't have fear when she touched his robe. But I don't think that the idea that this is a scary thing to do, just popped into her head right after she did it.

I bet that whole time she was repeating to herself, "If I just touch His garments, I will be healed." that she was pretty seriously nervous.

Who knows all the fears she had to face down, just to get to where Jesus was. (I don't think he was in her living room. She had to go find him. And she would have none of the ease of modern day to do it. And none of the women's rights equality of today on her side.)

There really aren't any other stories about people in the bible that specifically say "they were afraid" when they did something in faith, but I think if we were to put ourselves into their shoes, or even just read between the lines of the story, it would be easy to assume they were afraid.

Abraham, Moses, Gideon, and Mary come right to my mind. 

It can be easy to read verses that say "Do not be afraid." and feel overwhelmed.

It can be easy to take this verse as a reprimand:

1 John 4:18 NIV

⁸ There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.

But,

In the amplified Bible it says:

"he who is afraid has not reached the full maturity of love [is not yet grown into love’s complete perfection]."

So that says to me the person who fears is a work in progress.

And so,
I think, that would apply to most of us.

I don't know if someone other than myself can see it 

(since I was the only one inside this moment),

But I can clearly see here on my face 

both: 

terror, 

and peaceful faith, 

at the exact same time.

I just wanted to write this, incase anyone else was afraid, 

and wondering then, if they don't have faith.

God leads us through places than can be terrifying,

{Valley of the Shadow of Death}

but He is with us,

regardless of how we feel.

And if you have chosen to stick it out with Him, then you are in faith.

Psalm 34:5-7 (Complete Jewish Bible)

I sought Adonai, and he answered me;

he rescued me from everything I feared.

They looked to him and grew radiant;

their faces will never blush for shame.