Hello! Welcome to What Life Stirs Up!
I'm sure you all can relate that starting a new venture can be daunting or just plain scary. I've got to admit that I've felt the weight of this pressure as I've prepared to start this new blog. I sifted through several ideas in an effort to determine what might be the best way to launch this venue for my thoughts and devotions to God. It's no surprise that I set off in one direction only to be led (at the last minute) to a different starting point: Love and Fear.
Love and fear - two very powerful forces. Both can be powerful motivators but in very different ways. Love has the power to bring boldness and to drive forward. It has the power to cause people to put themselves on the line for the sake of another. It has the power to enable you to do things you might not otherwise choose to do. Fear has power as well, but it has the opposite effect. When fear is the driving force it often takes the shape of self-preservation. It is an inhibiting force that can paralyze and cause one to retreat. At times fear is powerful enough to drive one forward, but in unhealthy ways that hold the potential for detrimental effects. These opposite forces create opposite results: one breathes life and causes things to flourish and the other stops or prevents growth.
I've been on a journey (which at times is a struggle) of learning how to dream and allowing myself to dream. By this I mean that I've struggled with acknowledging that I have a dream of things I would like to do in this life, and I've struggled with allowing myself to dwell on or hope that such dreams could be pursued, let alone come true. As I've allowed God to work in my life and in my heart I've come to realize that I dream about writing. I have a desire to use the written word to challenge, motivate, and encourage others. I dream about allowing God to use the love He has given me for the written word to be used for His purposes, but the battle of love and fear met within me to produce a state of deceptive complacency.
For quite some time now I've felt God challenging me to pursue the dream He has given me of writing, and for quite some time I have been doing so…privately. I've written as time allowed and when the words have come to me, but I've tucked them away believing that when the time comes I will have the words to share. While these beliefs were not entirely false I have been challenged lately to share these words at the risk of judgement, criticism, rejection, or even agreement and encouragement. Once out there the words are no longer safe, but as I was reading the other day I was challenged by the words in 1 John 4:18 that tell us, "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."
OUCH.
Though I've read this verse many times before God challenged me in regards to my dreams. If the one who fears is not made perfect in love that means that the fears I have of pursuing my God-given dreams indicates that I have not fully let God into these areas. I've thanked God for giving me the dream, but I've held it, locked it up, and kept it out of His reach so that He couldn't do something with it or make anything of it. So that's how I've come (well…part of how) to this point today. I'm putting these words out there, inviting God in, and asking Him to overcome this fear with His love so that He can make something out of this.
