I had a friend call me one evening and asked me to go by the church and find something they had left there earlier in the day. So I went into the building, and walked down the hall, when I entered the room, I hit the light switch but no light came on… I was looking on the floor, and all of a sudden a door opens, and when I looked up there was a man standing there with a scary mask on his head! I could not get out of there fast enough, as I was trying to escape. I bounced around like like a pinball in a pinball game machine. When I left, I hit the walls going down the hall and then…I heard laughter…??? It was some of my “friends” that were there the whole time and had played a trick on me! After a few minutes, when I finally caught my breath and composure I asked them …I didn’t say any bad words, did I?…I have laughed a lot about that experience, and don’t feel sorry for me because it was a payback for the previous times I scared my “friends.”We all face fears in our lives. Some fears are based in reality, others are imagined. Some times they come as a surprise in a instant or sometimes they gradually build over time and get on “our nerves” and attack our mental and emotional wellbeing. There are many sources of phobias and fears. Here are few that experts have identified: “Chrysophobia” is the fear of the color orange, (I have actually overcome this one by attending a lot of Clemson football games when I lived in the Carolinas and UT Vols games now that I live here in Tennessee.) Then there is “Gelotophobia”, which is the fear of being laughed at (I have overcame that fear by laughing at myself).One of the more recent diagnosed phobias is “Nomophobia”, the fear of being out of mobile phone contact… and then there is “Phobophobia”, which is the fear of having a fear or a phobia.

We all have encounter fears in our lives. How should we respond to them? I personally have found that getting the facts and then strengthening our faith to face our fears, is the most helpful approach. Sometimes it can be as simple as just getting the facts to calm our fears,when we find out our fears were really unfounded or true. Even if our fears are confirmed, looking to God is always helpful, regardless of what we are afraid of or fears that we are facing in our lives. The fears we struggle with may bigger than us but they are never too big for God to handle if we will let Him. We can take Him at His Word…

-“Where God’s love is, there is no fear, because God’s perfect love drives out fear.” – 1 John 4:18 (NCV)

-“For God did not give us a spirit that makes us afraid but a spirit of power, and love, and self-control.” – 2 Timothy 1:7 (EXB)

-“I sought the Lord, and He answered me and delivered me from ALL my fears.”- Psalm 34:4 (ESV)