Thank you so much for tuning into the She Shifted podcast. Today, our real talk topic is fear.  I am energized by the faith over fear moment. Empowered by the fearless movement so I want us to keep the momentum going as we take a closer look and unpack fear.

You know, I remember when the Lord called me on the carpet about my fear.  I was having one of my moments and He said … you really don’t trust me with every area of your life.  Me, slightly offended.  My response was well of course I do. He was reading my mail, yall and He began to show me those areas that I really didn’t.  Immediately I realized I was guilty of giving faith some good ole lip service.  I’d respond out of my emotions and my behavior didn’t always line up.

Recently, I polled a group of women and asked what are you fearful about? Of course, I got some super saved answers, which I can appreciate. Most responded with fear of failure, sickness, losing a loved one, the fear of what the future holds; will I ever get married, will have every have children, The fear of being alone, you can be married and still be alone. It takes a lot of courage to be transparent and acknowledge those areas where we experience fear. The sooner we address the truth about our fears, the sooner we can allow God in to redeem them.

So, ladies thank you.

The reality is many suffer in silence because of fear. Where fear is leading, we will always have a hard time trusting God in that every area of our lives. Fear will hold us back from challenges that could benefit us and promote personal growth. Why because fear can be paralyzing, it will rob us of our peace, our joy, damage our relationships and it hinders our faith.  Fear is a bully, an oppressor that will hijack your future. Okay, I’m getting down off my soapbox now….

So after that divine slide show, I had to acknowledge and examine my truth so I pray that this episode will help you examine you truth as well.

First, let’s examine the definition of what fear is. Fear is a strong emotional reaction to imminent danger – real or imagined, rational or irrational, normal or abnormal. Most of us can agree that our dance with fear can be on smaller scales but what happens is our body and brain can still treat the threat as lethal and can trigger the freeze, fight or flight, fright response. You know me, I’m all about addressing our emotions and our actions. Fear is an emotion and our response or action is

We Freeze -stop what we’re doing and focus on the fearful stimulus to decide what to do next (e.g., you read a memo that your company will be laying off people).

Next, you choose either fight or flight. I’m I going to fight this thing; deal with the threat head-on or I’m I going to work around it.

However, when the fear is so great that is when you experience fright: which means you do nothing. You don’t fight or flee;— you take no action. You might worry about it, complain about it but don’t really do anything about it. Being in a continuous state of fright can lead to hopelessness, anxiety, and depression. Think about a time when fear was evident in your situation…how did you navigate through it..are you still navigating through it?