31 Days of Fear{less}: Completely Unafraid?

The second line of our Taylor Swift quote is, "It's not being completely unafraid." Yesterday, we talked about how fear{less} isn't the complete absence of fear- rather, it's finding freedom from fear. Today, we're going to focus on how it's not about being completely unafraid either. Here's the thing about fear- it's going to happen. At some point in time, you will experience fear. It's a part of human life. We've talked about how fear isn't a bad thing- it's just bad when it holds us back from experiencing God intended for us. Something that we need to realize is that when we fall, we have to get back up.

I love this Maya Angelou quote. Courage isn't being unafraid- we're going to fear sometimes. But, it's facing our fears. It's saying that "sometimes I'm gonna fall, but I'm going to get right back up". Have you ever tripped in the middle of a busy area? I'm kind of clumsy sometimes, but I've learned over the years how to catch myself before I fall all the way to the ground. It's embarrassing when you're walking along a sidewalk and you suddenly end up on the ground. Sometimes, there's a small part of you that just wants to stay there, because that would mean that you wouldn't have to acknowledge what just happened. It's the same way with fear. Sometimes, it does consume us. Sometimes, we don't have that freedom from fear. But, what we have to realize it that in those times (when we've "failed"), we need to get back up. It means that we don't run away from our fears, but we inch towards them with the mindset that "it's okay if this is scary, but I'm going to conquer this one!". It means that we don't spend our life in hiding. It doesn't mean that we have to run full speed ahead...just that we inch towards our fear with the mindset that "it's okay, it's okay" and we know that if we fall, we can get back up. We don't have to completely give up all of our fears at once- that would be overwhelming. But, step by step, we can find freedom. Step by step, we can get up after our failures and "try, try again".