earrings & fear ....

When I was a little girl, there was nothing I wanted more than to get my ears pierced. My parents had always told me I had to wait until I was 13-years-old. Well, at 12 1/2 they finally gave in. I wore them down & they FINALLY took me, but not before Mama made me sign a lengthy agreement about what type of earrings I could & could not wear. She was just short of making me get the agreement notarized & I am sure she still has it filed away somewhere.

At the jewelry store, I remember sitting in the chair & growing more nervous by the second. I asked the sweet little old lady that was going to pierce my ears if it would hurt & she said, "Sugar, it's not going to hurt me a bit!" & then, without missing a beat, she shot my ear lobe with her little piercing pistol ... {& I'm almost sure I saw her blow on the barrel after she was done}. 

When Priss was 5-years-old we made a deal with her. We promised her that if she would stop sucking her thumb she could get her ears pierced. {Don't judge! A little bribery goes a long way. Am I right?!?} Well, she soon decided she wanted earrings much more than she wanted to continue sucking her thumb. After she had proved she could go a week without her thumb, we took her to get her ears pierced.

She was so brave sitting in that jewelry store waiting ... much braver than I had been 23 years earlier in that very same jewelry store! She didn't flinch ... not even when the gun got stuck in her ear mid-piercing. She sat there cool as a cucumber while I was almost dry heaving in the corner. I was so proud of her!

See, a lot of my life has been dictated by my fears, &  I so don't want my kids to live their lives like that. I want them to grab life by the horns & look it square in the eye. I don't want their lives to be ruled by all of the "what if's".  I want for them to not be crippled by fears that don't even really exist ... 


God's word is clear ... we were not created to live in fear ... we were created to live in freedom!

"fear not, I am with you..." {isaiah 41:10}
"fear no evil..." {psalm 23:4}
"be anxious for nothing ..." {phillipians 4:6}
"do not worry about tomorrow ..." {matthew 6:34}
"He has not given us a spirit of fear ..." {2 timothy 1:7}
"be strong & courageous. do not be terrified ..." {Joshua 1:9}

He reminds me over & over again .... hundreds of time in the Bible that He's got this! He wins! He has my life & my future in His big 'ole loving hands!!! What should I have to worry about?!?!

{source}

 

I'm working on it!