Today I had a hard time narrowing down what I wanted to write about. I prayed and mediated on God’s word and what was given to me was simply continue to write from the heart and write about what you know. Now like most people I know a little about a lot of things but, there is one thing I know a whole lot about and that’s running (being fearful).
For most of my teenage years I was an avid runner, I ran cross-country and outdoor track. Running always gave me this euphoric feeling, it was a place where I could go to clear my mind of the day’s troubles. At times, it felt as if every time my feet would hit its intended surface I could feel the day’s tension releasing from my body. Like most runners, I learned to push past the pain and discomfort in my arms and legs to fight back the urge to want to quit. During these moments, I would give myself pep talks, I would become my own silent cheerleader. ” You are stronger than you think you are, you’re a fighter, keep running, keep moving, don’t stop moving, never stop moving”. Later in life I would learn to use some of these same motivational chants just in a different way.
As an adult I still ran but this time instead of being a “runner”, I began to “run” from things in my life instead of dealing with them. At times throughout my journey, my life experiences required me to shut down my emotions, look within and keep moving. It was during these times that the pain and chaos of the situation became so great and overwhelming that I felt as if the world had turned on me. I felt like I was suffocating under the pressure and weight of it all. My new motivational chant had become “Never stop moving or you will feel the pain, never stop moving or the emotions will overtake you”. See the few times where I stopped running, allowed myself to feel, forced myself to remain stationary, the outcome didn’t turn out how I thought it should have and as a result, I allowed the seed of fear to plant itself into my life. Over time, I began watering and nurturing this seed by avoiding all situations that I felt like were going to fail. If things weren’t going exactly how I had envisioned, then I would change directions or most times abandon it all together. I began to not only run in my relationships and my career but I allowed it to spill over into my spiritual life as well. Running spiritually like Jonah, I believed allowed me to continuously detour from the assignment God had clearly placed before me.
“The word of the Lord came to Jonah son of Amittai: “Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me.” But Jonah ran away from the Lord and headed for Tarshish. He went down to Joppa, where he found a ship bound for that port. After paying the fare, he went aboard and sailed for Tarshish to flee from the Lord.” (Jonah 1:1-3 New International Version)
Stopping or even slowing down is the last thing most people want to do and sometimes the obstacles in our lives are so big, that we must stop and reassess the situation before we can start up again. There may even be times where we must take a detour down an unseen path, one we never noticed before because we were so focused on our fears, that we ran right past it. Just because you stop running doesn’t mean the race is over, just because that situation or deal didn’t go according to “your plan” doesn’t mean your destined for failure. It’s not the end of the world, it’s really just a momentary setback. For me, I’m not sure at what point the shift took place and I finally took a stand to no longer allow the spirit of fear to overwhelm me and block out my dreams. But once I decided to stop running and faced my fears, I made a conscious decision to no longer allow it to block my path. Instead I chose to step on that spirit of fear and allow it to aid me in pushing myself towards accomplishing my goals. With the strong hold of fear in your life it not only blocks productivity but, causes you to stand in your own way and block your blessings as well. Friends, chose to no longer allow that spirit of fear to hold you hostage, grab it by its ankles and throw it out of your house and out of your life! Be bold in your decisions whether they work out or not. Remember every failure is an opportunity for a new beginning. ~ Tashauna
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“For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline.” (2 Timothy 1:7-8 New International Version)
