Fear...

Thinking about the future always seems a scary prospect for some. Me? Well, i know that my future is in the steady hand of God, so that should mean I'm not worried about it.

But me being me, I needlessly worry about my future as a secondary school teacher, I want to do this 3/4 week placement in a secondary school, and it sounds like a fantastic opportunity that will serve me well in the future, but that's just it, I don't think I could do it, I love the idea of finally being a secondary school teacher and of having a class and being settled but I never thought about the work , the sacrifices, the fear I'd have to go through to get to that place.

My naivety has once again taken over and the romantic notions about how easy it'll be to get to being an English teacher have taken me to a different place and now I've been taken back down to ground level and I'm scared. Scared that I won't be good at it, that it won't work etc.

My confidence at the moment is taking its usual battering, constantly challenging me and asking me whether if I should do this or do that? What will he/she think? Whether I can actually do this degree, sitting doing my essay I am increasingly aware of my sub standard language, never up to the standard I'd like.

Yet there's this reassuring voice telling me that this is what I'm meant to do and it is in God's plan. So why does fear take over so much of our lives, I know I am a culprit of it!?

Having faith in God should mean that all fear is taken away, so why is it that the world still manages to dig its claws in and rip that faith apart so often?

But you know what? Matthew had the right idea...

"Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble." Matthew 6:34 (ESV)

I think The Message version puts it bluntly...

"Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now, and don't get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow. God will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes."

Fear, don't let it take you, because a life half lived due to fear is no life at all.