Once, in giving a presentation about fear, I asked the audience to raise their hands to answer several different questions about who was afraid of what. My last question, of course, was, “Who has a fear of raising their hands to answer questions from a presenter?”

Consider these:

1. Fear is like a huge pile of dirty dishes. Dirty dishes just sit there in the sink – not moving – not going anywhere – not disappearing – not getting washed – not doing anything. They just sit there staring at you – forever. Until the time comes that we get up and start washing the dishes.
   Fear just sits there, inside us – not moving – not going anywhere – not disappearing – not getting washed – not doing anything – until we get at it and start scrubbing away – cleaning it up – washing it. This is called – “doing the work that needs to be done.”
2. Sure, it’s possible for us to choose of our own freewill to be afraid for all eternity. Is that how long to hold onto fear – eternity? Who would choose to live in fear for all eternity? Or we can ask God to help us “wash our dishes”.
3. Fear is not the truth. Caution might be the truth – and is wise to take hold of. Responding might be the truth – and also can be wise to take hold of. But, fear is not the truth.
4. Fear is the soul’s recognizing a situation where the soul in some form – once before – faced, stumbled, and failed. And as such, God has brought this situation back in that moment, and specifically meant for us to face in that moment under those present circumstances, so that we can find the better response – a response that will also bring God into the moment.
5. God does not approach us with any criticism, nor judgement in His heart. When calling on Him for help, consider thinking of Him as a best friend, who has no criticism or judgment – only acceptance and loving kindness.
6. What we fear is more often that which we’ve caused others to fear because of our actions towards them – most often from past lives, but sometimes in the present life. We get to understand the fear we caused, by “walking in their shoes,” and we then get to understand them – and then ourselves and the whys and wherefores of the fear we have.
7. When we let go of needing others to be afraid of us, we can let go of being afraid of others.

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“When we can see a sunset in all its glory, there are no words to tell its story.” (Rainbow Cards, ©, 2003, Jodie Senkyrik)