From 0-to-Irrational in Under 10 Seconds

By Kim Chaffin –

Fear can be crippling. It can cause you to lose all sense of rational thinking. I have been in that dark place. I unloaded on my husband out of fear one evening from that dark place. How I wish I could take those words back.

Let me back up and set the scene. We were looking at going to South Korea to train for taekwondo. World travel is not at the top of my comfort list. With the tension in South Korea about the involvement in Afghanistan and a trip that was planned to the demilitarized zone, I went into full on freak out mode.

I just knew we were going to die. Scenario after scenario went through my mind. If we did not die, surly WW3 was going to break out and we would be stuck there. If we were lucky enough to not have the scenarios play out there still was the demilitarized zone. Guards with machine guns pointed at our bus did not feel right. Now I am going to cut myself some slack here.  The demilitarized zone is not something that will ever sit right with me. I have no desire to ever go there.

My husband was working on the plane tickets when I came storming into the office. If I had been a cartoon, smoke would have been spewing from my nose and ears. I was a maniac. I told my husband, “It is not safe!  If you even think of taking my kids out of the country I am going to get a lawyer and fight you”. My fear was uncorked and I went from 0 to irrational in under 3 seconds.  That kind of speed is great if you are a racecar driver but all it did was set me up for one major wreck.

Thankfully I have an amazing husband who never would put any of us in harms way. He is also full of grace and told me that we could try the trip another time. My husband then had a very honest talk with me about fear. With a lot of love he told me, “It is not healthy to live life in fear”. Those words stung. He was right but how could I get past fear?

I realized the first thing I needed to do was go to God. I started praying and telling him the things I was afraid of about the trip.  Peace began to set in as I did that. I was even calm enough to look at the trip again. This time, as the trip approached I was in a better place. The demilitarized zone still did not feel right to me however. The only thing I could do was put it in God’s hands and trust.

A few days before we left, our pastor gave a sermon on fear and he shared Psalms 34:4

I sought the Lord, he answered me; he delivered me from my fear. That was the first verse I had ever memorized and I had forgotten about it. God has a way of getting our attention. As I sat in church, His living and breathing word spoke to me loud and clear. He tossed me a rope and pulled me out of the darkness. All I had to do was seek Him when fear tried to creep in.  He would answer me. He could and would deliver me from my fear.

The trip was awesome and God was with me every moment. As it turned out, the visit to the demilitarized zone was cancelled.  There were some big safety issues and my uneasy feelings were confirmed. I learned at that moment that God was in control and He has all things covered. Looking back, if I had let fear win, I would have missed out on a great time with my family.

If you are struggling with fear like I was, take it to the Lord immediately. Do it before you find yourself where I was. Trust me when you go from 0 to irrational in under 3 seconds it is not a pretty sight. I sought the Lord, He answered me and delivered me from fear. He can do the same for you. Seek Him with your whole heart. There is not a single fear that is too big for God. The bible is full of verses about fear and I believe there is power in praying scripture. Go on, what are you waiting for? Give God your fears.