IN THE FACE OF FEAR  By Lori A Alicea

There is a masquerade party we’ve each attended to on occasion,
Where guests come wearing a mask of the heart…

Their…

Face of hopelessness…
Face of despair…
Face of rejection…
Face of the unknown…
Face of “what if”…
Face of “not measuring up”…
Face of inadequacy…
Face of lack…
Face of sickness…
Face of death…
Face of….

The masquerade of so many faces…
Who hide behind the masks of their fears…

Instead of defying in the face of fear with God’s warning of truth,
“I DARE YOU!”

The storms of life are always brewing.
Some storms are predicted, calculated and seen from miles away.

There are other storms you run into by accident,

Whose swells overtake you when least expected.

But it’s the presence of life’s predictions on radar, the gusts of winds and storms we track, and possibilities of high tides that take us under emotionally in our fears of hopelessness, despair, and rejection.

We run for higher ground in our fear of the “unknown”, the “what if”.

We anchor our boats as we sink from the fear of our inadequacies, our “not measuring up” and in our lack.

In desperation we fire the flares for a rescue from fear of our sickness and imminent death.

In the eye of the storm we hide behind the masks of our fears.

We cower to the water’s  enemies instead of boldly standing up to take them out.

We must rise up in the lying face of fear,
With eyes of truth of a wonderful God,
Who casts all fear with his love.

Take back your ground in the face of fear
Reflecting the face of God.

Fear nothing, because…

¹God is our refuge and strength, AN EVER-PRESENT HELP IN TROUBLE.

²Therefore, we will not fear, though the earth gives way, though the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,

³Though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains quake with their surging.

¹⁰ He says, “Be still, and KNOW THAT I AM GOD…
Psalm 46:1-3, 10 NIV