Never Take the Advice of Your Fears 

    Worry seems to be the sin that most people are not afraid to commit. We used to fear God. Now we fear everything else. Nicholas Berdyaev says, “Victory over fear is the first spiritual duty of man.”Fears, like babies, grow larger by nursing them. Fear wants to grow faster than teenagers. Disraeli says, “Nothing in life is more remarkable than the unnecessary anxiety which we endure, and generally create ourselves.” We must act despite fear, not because of it. If you are afraid to step up to the plate, you will never hit a home run. Sister Mary Tricky said, “Fear is faith that it won’t work out.” The Bible says in Psalms, “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore, we will not fear.” Don’t fear, for the Lord is with you. He will never leave you to face your challenges alone. 

Lucy Montgomery said, “It only seems as if you are doing something when you are worrying.” Worry doesn’t help tomorrow’s troubles, but it does ruin today’s happiness. “A day of worry is more exhausting than a day of work.” (John Lubbock). When you worry about the future, there will soon be no future for you to worry about. No matter how much a person dreads the future, he usually wants to be around to see it. The truth is, more people worry about the future than prepare for it. 

Never trouble trouble, until trouble troubles you. Arthur Roche said, “Worry is a thin stream of fear trickling through the mind. If encouraged, it cuts a channel into which all other thoughts are drained.” Instead, do what Dr. Rob Gilbert advised: “It’s all right to have butterflies in your stomach. Just get them to fly in formation.” 

Only your mind can produce fear. Jesus said, “Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?” We choose our joys and our worries long before we experience them. So I agree with Helen Keller: “It gives me a deep, comforting sense that things seen are temporal and things unseen are eternal.” George Porter said, “Always be on guard against your imagination. How many lions it creates in our paths, and so easily! And we suffer so much if we do not turn a deaf ear to its tales and suggestions.” 

Worry never fixes anything. Shakespeare wrote, “Our doubts are traitors, and they make us lose what we oft might win, by fearing to attempt.” Emanuel Celler says, “Don’t roll up your pant legs before you get to the stream.” 

“If you are distressed by anything external, the pain is not due to the thing itself, but to your estimate of it, and this you have the power to revoke at any moment” (Marcus Aurelius). Fears lie and keep us from going where we might have won. There are always two voices sounding in our ears — the voice of fear and the voice of faith. One is the clamor of the senses; the other is the whispering of God. Never let your fears hold you back from pursuing your dream.