How many of you have ever felt nervous before an interview? Well a few months ago, I had my first “in front of the cameras” interview. Well, the day turned out to be quite an adventure! The show was taped up in the local mountains in Southern California. That morning, the weather advisories stated hazardous road conditions, 18 inches of snow, road closures, and recommendations to bring extra food, water and clothing. Well, I have to confess that my fears set in right away! I’m thinking “Ok, what is it again that I teach about fear?” Please, someone remind me! My greatest concern at this point was being able to get back down the mountain to pick up my daughter (Charis) from her friend’s house, and that she wouldn’t be filled with fear if we were stuck up there! After allowing my fear to rule and reign for a bit, it was time to make a choice. Either practice what I preach, or allow the enemy to ruin this day by choosing to hold onto the fear – which gives him a handle (as you’ll learn in my teachings). I began to confess the fears as sin, took authority over that spirit of fear, and asked God to show me His truth about this. Once again, He lovingly reminded me that I am not God:) I am a daughter of the King of the Universe, and I don’t have to hold all things, or all people together! He would hold my daughter together no matter what happened, He would hold the interview together, and that me being controlled by fear all day was not going to help Him to do this in any way! Wow, what a relief! I instantly felt His calm and peace.
I reminded myself that fear is not from God (He has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, of love, and of a sound mind). I began to thank Him, out loud, for what He was going to do that day, even though I did not yet see it — that He was going to give me everything that I needed and protect us, that He was going to give me the words, speak through me, give me His peace, confidence, anointing, and that He would use my words to bring conviction and healing. I was reminded that the weather that day was not a surprise to Him:) As we had heard about the upcoming rains days in advance, my husband (Al) had already planned to take off work and drive me up there – so thankful for His sacrificial servant’s heart!
Well, as this story is getting way too long, forgive me – I’m just learning to blog, I’ll summarize it to say that God took care of every detail. It took us almost 3 hrs to get there and even longer to get back, but He protected us, “re-booted” Al with his east coast driving skills on some really nasty ice, blessed and guided the interview, gave me His words, His confidence and strength — and I was extra blessed to have the gift of a day in the car to spend time with my husband! And, we made it back right on time to pick up our daughter:)
All this to say that God is SO faithful! He just wants us to stay focused on Him, to desire intimacy with Him in every moment, and He will take care of the rest. HE will hold all things and all people together. We don’t have to, and we can’t anyway, no matter how hard we try! As I mentioned in my first blog, our vision is to transform lives around the world through a more intimate relationship with God. One of the ways we grow in intimacy with God, is by recognizing what blocks intimacy with Him. Fear is definitely one of those blocks! As you will hear in my teachings, as we begin to recognize things such as fear, bitterness, unforgiveness, self-condemnation, etc. as sin, that they are not of faith and they separate us from God, we can learn to use the weapons of warfare that He has given us to be freed of them. Then we will experience all of the love, wisdom and power that He has for us and be able to show it to the world around us!
