Day 10 Facing Fears Without Being Afraid

Good morning, friends. This is day 10 of a weekday devotional video series called, “Facing fears without being afraid.” I’m posting this video every weekday morning.  If you enjoy the content, like this post and share it on your own Facebook page. Make a comment yourself. The next video will be share on Monday morning.

Today I want to encourage you to do everything you can to stay in the present.  Focus on what is happening right now. What are you feeling, what are you thinking, how is it going right now?

One of the hard parts of this crisis is so much has changed so fast. Two weeks ago the faith community I served worshiped together. In two weeks sports leagues shut down, schools have closed, restaurants only do take-out, movie theaters, bowling alleys, gyms, fitness studios, playgrounds, museums, salons, concert halls, and now we’re supposed to stay home.  What’s next??

And this what’s next is what our mind can attach itself. We start to wonder and ultimately worry about what’s next.  What can happen is we find ourselves living in the land of “what if” and not the land of “what is.” And that is not healthy.

Hear me—I’m all for planning and thinking about the future. But obsessing about the future in a rapidly changing environment is not healthy for our spirits.

My word of encouragement is to focus on the present. Breathe in/breathe out. How am I feeling right now. What do I need to do right now. Take care of the present.

By focusing on the present we can let go of the anxiety of the future. And right now we all want to let go of the anxiety of the future.

Jesus said it like this, “do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own. Today’s trouble is enough for today.

Focus on the present. Tomorrow you will focus on tomorrow by focusing on tomorrow’s present. Two days from now you will do the same.

In this way we can face fears without being afraid.

Blessings on your day!

Facing Fears without being afraid

For the past two weeks I've been sharing short, less than two minutes, devotional videos every weekday morning to help people start their day. The themes of these devotions are "Facing fears without being afraid." The actual videos can be found on my Facebook page.
https://www.facebook.com/hmoorepaul 

Below is the words from today's video:

Good morning, friends. This is day nine of a weekday devotional video series called, “Facing fears without being afraid.” I’m posting this video every weekday morning.  If you enjoy the content, like this post and share it on your own Facebook page. Make a comment yourself.

Yesterday Governor Walz announced a “stay at home” policy in the State of Minnesota. All of us are going to be spending a lot of time in our homes for two weeks starting midnight on Friday.

Though none of us chose this reality, we have a choice in how we’re going to live in it.  I think one of the best choices is to follow the feel/think/act process that David Peters shared during worship last weekend at Chain of Lakes Church.

We’re going to be confined to our homes. How do we feel about this? What emotions do we have? Anger, sadness, relief, happiness, confusion, fear. I would guess that we have a combination of all of those emotions. We probably have an opinion—whether it’s positive or negative—about this decision by Governor Walz, but quite frankly I want to encourage us to let go of our opinion. This is our new reality. Now it’s up to us to live within it.

I want to encourage us to share our feelings with at least one other person. Don’t share your thoughts, share your feelings. I’m assuming you know the difference.

What’s driving that feeling. Think about that.

I have fear about the people who are going to suffer financially. What’s driving that? My desire that they don’t have to suffer? That’s where I land. I’m also a bit happy? I’ll be able to spend a lot more time with the two women in my life.

What is the thought process behind your feelings?

And then how are we going to act? I want to encourage us to use this time to spend even more time with God. God has ideas about what we can do in our confinement. God can help us come out of our confinement as better people. We haven’t chosen the situation, but we can choose to do our best to grow as people.

In addition to praying, I’m going to enjoy more meals with my wife, Amy, and daughter, Hannah. Because Amy and I work almost every night a week, we hardly ever enjoy a meal together at home. Now that Hannah is home, the three of us can spend time together. I’m looking forward to that and seeing how the three of us can grow in our love for each other.

Feel/Think/Act. There might not be a more significant time in our life that we apply these three words.

Blessings on your day as you Face fears without being afraid.