I don’t know about you, but I used to fear the future.
I feared what might happen to my kids in this post-Christian culture. I feared that all the good things in my life were in the past. I feared spending time in Purgatory. I feared that our country was falling apart.
In fact, I had so many fears, all my joy was gone.
Have you ever felt lie this? What did you do about it?
St. Therese offers us the answer to our fears. That answer is trust.
Do you realize that God is control of everything in your life? Do you believe that He only desires your good?
Read this post from last year about Trusting God with your future. My fears were not completely gone when I wrote it. But I had begun to see the solution. And now, a year later, I am living it. I am free from crippling fears. You can be too.
Connie Rossini
Fear is my huge struggle. I also have a vivid imagination. So when I am out with my boys, I can vividly imagine 1001 ways in which they could suffer a horrible death. We are vacationing at the beach, and instead of enjoying the beach view from our room, I imagine trying to escape if there were a fire, or a child falling off the balcony. I so desperately want to trust God, and, in a way, I do, but it is not joyfully. I do believe God will EVENTUALLY take care of me/us, but I always brace myself for the pain that may be involved on His chosen path for us. I also never doubt God’s existence, but I do often have those fears that God created us to end. That heaven is a fairytale and we were not made for it. The thoughts will often trigger fear that nears panic. I am not good enough to desire to serve God just for love of God, whether there is “something in in for me” (heaven) or not. I selfishly want my “reward” and assurance I will get it if I put all my trust in God. But I am far from there (trusting God). The irony is that my fear has grown despite growing closer to God in a lot of other ways. Maybe some of my fear is sensing my own lack of control. Maybe it’s part of my journey of growing closer to God. Maybe. But I pray I don’t stall here. It’s not pleasant. ~Nicole
Nicole, you may be way ahead of my advice on this, but I’ll give it a try anyway. If you can’t use this advice, maybe another reader can. We should remember that fear, like all the passions, has a good purpose. Imagining bad things that could happen and figuring out how you would deal with them is not necessarily a bad thing. That can act as a rehearsal, so that if there is a fire or something, we can perform calmly what we’ve planned ahead of time–like practicing a fire drill. Of course, we can take that too far. Not being able to enjoy life due to fear is not what God wants for us.
You may be right in thinking this may be part of God’s plan for you. Maybe you have to push through those fears before you can come out strong. Can you say the words, “Jesus, I trust in you,” then try to ignore your fears? If you can’t stop thinking about them, maybe some counseling would help. Could there be something in your past that you haven’t totally faced–a fear that came to pass and you haven’t really dealt with it?
I will be praying for you.
I have been in countless bad situations and trying circumstances, and I have experienced miracle after miracle that has gotten me through. As for myself, I would be foolish not to trust God at this point as I have seen His work. Perhaps you can ask God to show you His providential protection, or have Him make you remember times where He has rescued you. There is nothing like remembering what God has done to build trust. What I have experienced goes infinitely beyond the laws of probability.