Some days life is just flat hard. Things fill our minds that really have no place in us. We worry and grow anxious about some of the strangest things in life. We face health struggles, financial woes, relationship pains, and parenting trouble just to name a few. The more these things mount up in our lives, the less adequate we feel in life and the more we feel like failures. It’s far too easy to let the fear of these and many other things in life stop us from living the life we’ve been called to live. But we’ve been told to fear no more.

The opening verse of this week’s MusicMonday hits many of us right between the eyes. We don’t realize what fear and anxiety do to us. We tend to think that fear doesn’t have lasting implications but fear is crippling and stress/anxiety can impact our health. Studies have shown that when we continually give in to the stresses and fears of life we run a higher risk of things like depression, anxiety and personality disorders. But it also has an impact on our physical health too. High blood pressure, heart disease, abnormal heart rhythms and even stroke and heart attack can all be attributed to heightened levels of stress and fear in ones life. Read the opening verse of I will fear no more and see how crippling fear is.

Every anxious thought that steals my breath
It’s a heavy weight upon my chest
As I lie awake and wonder what the future will hold
Help me to remember that You’re in control

Where do you go when fear overtakes yoru mind and heart? Where do you turn when the bottom drops out in life and you feel as if yoru world is coming to a screeching halt? For those of us who are Jesus followers we need to come to our knees. We need to stop and pray. Prayer may not stop the pain or prevent the problem but prayer is our lifeline to the only place where our strength can be found. Prayer reminds us that in the face of fear we can legitimately say I will fear no more!