Believing God is who He says he is- A Key to Overcoming Fear

One of the questions I’ve been asked the most since deciding to move our family to Africa is, “How do you feel about taking the kids there? Are you afraid?” I can honestly say that I have complete peace about it.  Having been to Africa 4 times now and knowing plenty of people that live there, I am well aware of the risks, but fear is not something that I feel at all! Having said that, I know that it’s been a process to get to this place and I wanted to share a bit of that with you.  I know that most of you are not in our exact circumstances but there are always things that could tempt us to be fearful, especially when raising kids! I remember as if it were yesterday having to choose whether to go on an already planned missions trip to Mozambique that Aaron and I were leading when I was 7 weeks pregnant with Judah. We found out about a week before we left that I was expecting, and being that the area we were going to was a malaria zone and when you are pregnant you can’t take any form of prophylaxis, I had people telling me I was crazy to go.  I felt the weight for the first time of making a decision that not only affected my life, but the life of my baby! My first instinct was to stay back (which would have been totally fine! I had freedom to do so.) But, as I prayed about it peace filled me and I knew it would be fine! I went and didn’t get a single mosquito bite!  (Having said that, if I hadn’t had peace, I would have stayed.  It’s simply about hearing what God is saying and then following him and the grace he gives us!)  

After that trip though, there were a lot of questions and concerns I had about moving our young family overseas: mostly having to do with finances, health and safety.  Tracy (the missionary we’ll be working with) has been wonderful at helping me process many of those things- it seemed like every time I saw her I’d have my list of questions and time and time again, she would point me back to scripture… seek his kingdom first! God will take care of our needs.  Don’t be anxious about anything! God is with us… he’s inside of us… his angels encamp around us… he is GREATER than he who is in the world.  God heals ALL of our diseases. Do we really believe it???  I have been chewing on this for several years now.  The moment I knew it had sunk in was when we met with Tracy just a few months ago… the visit that was instrumental in us deciding to go and I said to her, “I feel like I’ve worked through my fears.  I’m so open right now and don’t feel like I have to have every duck in a row anymore.  I’m just so ready to do what God is calling us to do!”  And I knew deep down that it was true!  If I have any concerns or questions now, it’s things like, “Are we living to the fullness of what God’s called us to? Are we positioning ourselves to see the maximum yield of kingdom fruit from our lives?  Are we thriving or just surviving? Are the lives that we are living going to inspire and challenge our children to live to their fullest?”  These are the types of questions that I want my decisions to be based on.  Not whether my kids could get bitten by a snake or get malaria.  We could stay here in an effort to protect them and they could get shot at their school! Or worse… they could live with parents who never really went after their dreams because they were afraid… or were always preparing for what they are called to but never actually doing it.  I know it’s easy to write these things before having gone, before facing the challenges that Paul says will surely come when you embrace Christ.  But, I look forward to embracing the full gospel.  The gospel that also holds the solution to all our trials and challenges.  The gospel that is full of hope in every situation.  I look forward to pulling on God’s word and his strength like never before.  May this year be a year for all of us, where we move past our fears and truly believe that God is who He says He is and will do what He says He will do!