I will not fear …

When my son Nathan was very young he was afraid of dogs. I don’t recall anything that happened to him to make him so fearful, but he was literally so scared when he saw a dog nearby that he tried to climb up my leg. The dog did not even need to approach us for this to occur. This concerned me at the time, and I wanted to do something about it. Since the fear appeared to be irrational Mike and I felt that it was perhaps demonic in nature. We had been introduced to deliverance ministry, but were not keen to try it out on our young son. Instead, when Nathan was sound asleep at night, I would go in to his room and speak freedom from fear over him. In the Name of Jesus I commanded all fear of dogs to leave him. I did this for just three nights, each time spending less than a minute in his bedroom. On the fourth day we happened to see a dog, and Nathan was so excited that he ran up to the dog and wanted to stroke him! Since Nathan was only two or three years old at the time, and the dog was quite big, I was quite scared at this turnabout in his behaviour. I quickly scooped him up and backed away from the dog, who fortunately was quite docile. I am not afraid of dogs, but I do have a healthy respect for them, and believe in communicating with their owners before I permit my children to touch them.

I share this story in order to illustrate the idea of fear. Nathan had a fear of dogs that the Lord set him free from. After that it was necessary for him to learn to fear dogs in a different way, to give them space, to treat them appropriately. In the same way although I am not fearful of Covid, I do have a respect for the illness, and I will do my best to protect myself and my family from it. Since my husband and I are now advanced in years, it is probably more important to be very careful.

Something that has really concerned me, however, is how are we going to move forward from this pandemic? I have friends who have embraced some ideas that have left me confused, and I struggle when I talk with them. I still want them as friends, but right now it is difficult for me to consider what comes next. Will we be able to agree to disagree, and then move on, or will we be stuck with each other’s interpretation of what has been happening? I have to admit that I have been a little anxious about this. A couple of nights ago, however, I had a dream.

Although I have asked the Lord several times to speak to me in my dreams, it just does not seem to happen to me very often. This time, however, I did sense the Lord speaking. Actually someone was prophesying, and I was listening. The main thing that I remember was that the person was declaring that God was going to make a way where there was no way. Then another person began to prophecy. I think it was me. The words were very similar, but again the main part was that the Lord was going to make a way where there was no way. The sense in my dream was that the words were being powerfully anointed, and there was much agreement that this was indeed the word of the Lord.

I take this word as an encouragement. I cannot see the way forward. The end seems to be coming, although perhaps not as quickly as we would all like it to come. I have not burned any bridges with friends that I disagree with, and I am trusting that we will all be able to move forward together. I am not afraid of the future because I know the One who holds everything in his hands, and I trust him.