My dear author friend, Marion Bond West, using a visual image from back in the day, has said that when it comes to resisting fear, you have to get into the telephone booth with Jesus alone, and tightly shut the door.
Her words have proved true for me many times when fear threatened.
But this past weekend, I cracked the door.
Big mistake.
We had to make a trip to the emergency room because Jerry was having symptoms which could potentially be heart related. With his cardiac history, we can’t hesitate when these things happen. After a night in the hospital and numerous tests, they were no conclusions, so we returned home to face more evaluations this week.
The evening of our return is when the “what if” thoughts began assaulting me and fear raised its ugly head. I could feel myself sinking into a black hole as I pondered the possible calamities that might lie ahead. The attack went on for hours, and I spiraled.
But then, as I stepped into the shower that evening, a place God often speaks to me because the world is shut out, I remembered who I was and whose I was. “Greater is He that is in me than he that is in the world,” I said aloud as the water poured over my head (a paraphrase of I John 4:4). I didn’t have to crack the door of the telephone booth and entertain those thoughts, but what I needed to do was to put my mind on what is true, noble, just, pure, lovely, and of a good report. (Philippians 4:8 paraphrase) What I needed to do was stay in the present moment and not borrow a thousand tomorrow’s trouble.
And folks, just like that, the fear left. When I stepped from that shower my fears had gone down the drain.
“Resist the devil and he will flee from you.” (James 4:7 italics mine)
I think it is no coincidence that when Jerry preached the next morning (He’s almost unstoppable when it comes to preaching), his topic from his spiritual warfare series was “The Belt of Truth.” He concluded his message by saying, “Friends, we can be free of the garbage the devil has heaped on humanity if we will only believe and act like children of the King.”
That’s what God had helped me do the previous evening. We need to remember whose we are and use the word of God as our defense when the enemy threatens.
So, if the enemy is rearing his ugly head with fear in your life, get into the telephone booth with Jesus, remember who you are, and focus on God’s truth.
Trust me, it’s a great place to be.
Coming soon, A New Thing from Beverly Varnado, another volume in the small-town romance series set in Worthville, Georgia. Beverly Varnado is an award-winning multi-published author and screenwriter as well as a blogger and artist. Her most recent book is a middle grade historical from Elk Lake Publishing, In Search of the Painted Bunting.
Her blog, One Ringing Bell, has nearly 1,000 posts in its archives. Her work has been featured on World Radio, in the Upper Room Magazine, a dozen anthologies, and other periodicals, and online sites. One of her screenplays was a finalist for the prestigious Kairos Prize in screenwriting. More at link bio.