The Audacity of Fear

Audacity - boldness or daring, especially with confident or 

arrogant disregard for personal safety, conventional thought, or other restriction.

Fear - a distressing emotion aroused by impending danger, evil, pain, etc., 

whether the threat is real or imagined; the feeling or condition of being afraid of.

What exactly are you truly afraid of?  What is that one hurdle you just cannot seem to get over?  What is that emotional nuisance that keeps you up throughout the night, that you seemingly cannot conquer? What is really causing you to give up on the dreams and visions you have for your future?

One of the most quoted and renowned quotes regarding "Fear" came from President Franklin D. Roosevelt during his first Inaugural address. He boldly stated that "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself." From that quote, I maintain that fear is the true personification of evil versus just a pure emotion, but I'll get to that later. Here's another excerpt from that same speech that I don't think many have ever heard:

"Yet our distress comes from no failure of substance. We are stricken by no plague of locusts. Compared with the perils which our forefathers conquered because they believed and were not afraid, we have still much to be thankful for. Nature still offers her bounty and human efforts have multiplied it....Happiness lies not in the mere possession of money; it lies in the joy of achievement, in the thrill of creative effort...These dark days will be worth all they cost us if they teach us that our true destiny is not to be ministered unto, but to minister to ourselves and to our fellow men."

This speech was given on March 4, 1933, during a time when this country is at possibly its' lowest point, "The Great Depression."

I think that this same message still applies to us almost 82 years later when it applies to our individual lives.  Just like the quarterly segments of our calendar, our lives operate in periods of time that we refer to as "Seasons." I can relate to times of great happiness, while I can definitely attest to the perils of a great hole of depression. So the focus of this is how do I overcome fear?

As I stated above, I believe that Fear is merely not an emotion...it is a person. I also believe the same thing about Joy as well. Fear is not just something that you fear, but rather a living being which comes and take over the remote control of our very existence. Which person will you allow to operate in your life? The thing about Fear is that he will come in without your permission. That's where the "Audacity" definition from above apply to our lives. Fear is arrogant, has no regard for your safety or sanity and operates without restriction. Fear keeps us in a hostage situation where Joy has no power to negotiate us out of.  We have to willingly let Joy reign in our lives.

All in all, we control our own destiny and it's a matter of which of these two we will invite to influence our lives.  I am dealing with my own personal battles where hope has been lost, but yet I am fighting for my joy. Fear will never let go of you, you have to wrestle yourself away from it and crush its' neck. I don't know about you, but I am not going to allow anyone to assume any control over my life and go against the dreams and goals I have envisioned for my life.

You hold the power...stop declaring yourself powerless. You've got this, lives are counting on you!