"Have I not commanded you be strong and courageous? Do not be frightened and do not be dismayed for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go." - Joshua 1:9.

There is a lot of fear right now. Fear of COVID, fear of losing somebody who gets COVID, fear of losing your job, fear that you won't be able to find another job because you've been out of work for awhile now, fear surrounding the heated discussions about racism in America, fear of the riots, fear of the future, fear that you're going to say the wrong thing, fear that you're going to have to fire the team that you have been hanging on to by a thread, fear that you're going to lose the business that you have been building for for the last 20, 30, 40 years. This is heavy. We are in a season that is heavy: individually, as families, and as a nation.

And I know a lot of us have adapted to this weird season of life that we're in. And we don't always think about this, but I think it's good to remind you today that this whole situation that is 2020 is still affecting us. It's affecting our relationships, it's affecting our minds. There's just a lot of fear. And I don't know about you, but it feels like it's starting to wear on us a little bit.

Now, before I speak to fear and all that I have learned about it recently, I want to say just a few things. Every week I show up on this podcast and I share from my heart. I try to be real. I share the things I'm learning, the things God's teaching me that I believe will be helpful for you and will encourage you. Sometimes I get it wrong. Actually, I can promise you, I have gotten it wrong and I will get it wrong again at some point. I'm not perfect. But I recently heard a quote from Craig Groeschel's podcast. And he said, "Show up and be yourself because people would rather follow a leader who is always real than a leader who's always right."

So I'm going to keep showing up here and be real because that's all I can do.

For the full show notes, head to nancyray.com/podcast/72.

 

Resources from this episode:

Sermon on the fear of man

The blessing

Restoring the Foundations ministry

Susan Jeffers

Leave a review for the Work & Play Podcast on iTunes

Emily P. Freeman

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