I am so pleased to introduce you to Kelly Balarie, author of the new book Fear Fighting. She has graciously written this as a guest blog. I hope you love her just as much as I do!
I
remember it like yesterday: he was the handsome 13 year old. I was the girl who
looked like she put her finger in the electrical socket. My hair never was
something I could easily tame.
I had my eye on him
for a while.
He was so handsome.
He was so funny.
He was so confident.
Now, as I looked at
him, he was just standing there on the other side of the room. He looked alone.
Sad even? No one was with him. Everyone else was dancing.
I really could ask
him to dance.
I could, for once,
try to be brave.
There's always a
chance.
My dress is pretty.
I mustered my inner
beauty and asked him. He looked at me like I was a martian from an alternate
universe.
"Uhh...well, we
can't dance because there are parents watching."
I stared. There
were parents watching the other 50 dancing children too. It didn't stop them.
His head turned left
and right; he was trying to see who was watching. He wanted to make sure no one
saw him talking - to me.
I got the message.
Head down, shoulders slumped and mind sure I'd never allow myself to get hurt
like this again, I shuffled back to my spot. The seat at the table where no one
else was.
I made a silent
agreement, a firm handshake deal, with myself: I'll leave man before man ever
hurts me again like this!
This deal still lives.
Even, today, I leave man. At first sign of injury, I turn my back on him.
If he has a word of
advice, I take it as a sign of criticism and freeze over my heart. If he speaks
too loudly, I take it as he's ready to abandon me and I shut my mind down.
If he does something wrong, I figure it is personal; I raise the security
walls around my heart.
I run from man so man
can't run me over.
I'm not proud of it.
I certainly don't speak aloud of it. But, it's true.
What about you?
Has man so injured you,
that injustice plagues you? Nips at your skin? Pulls out the worst of you?
God's pinged my heart
with many arrows of rejection lately. Yet, like the loving cupid he is, I think
he's allowed me to get struck, so I can read the message of love attached to
me.
It reads like
this: He was despised and rejected by mankind, a
man of suffering, and familiar with pain. Like one from whom people hide their
faces he was despised, and we held him in low esteem. (Is. 53:3)
You see, God hit me with the truth: Jesus was
rejected. Badly rejected.
But, what did Jesus do, in the face of his
rejection?
Did he grab all his favorite robes and go
hide out in a cave until man could pull his act together? No. Did he stop
healing, loving and moving on earth because man was mean and insensitive? No.
Did he turn away from loving, remembering the list of dirty laundry we flaunt
nearly every day - in his face? No.
He trudged down a road with a back-breaking
cross, digging deep into his skin - on account of me. He rode a lowly donkey
that made him look like the village-idiot - on account of me. He made his heart
available and accessible - on account of me.
Jesus didn't let man's rejection, give him
license to reject man.
And, thank God this is the case. Look at what
his alternate approach to rejection accomplished: it saved mankind.
What might we accomplish by responding to
rejection - in a different way? In a loving way? In a mercy-giving way? In a
grace-building way?
And, most of all, what might we save? Could it be our own heart?
Our marriage? Our relationships? Our feelings? Or, most importantly, a special
dance with God.
About the book, Fear Fighting, Awakening the
Courage to Overcome Your Fears:
Author and Speaker, Kelly Balarie didn’t always fight fear –
for a large part of her life, she was controlled by it. Yet, in her book, Fear
Fighting: Awakening Courage to Overcome Your Fears,
with God, Kelly charts a new course. Join Kelly, on the journey to go and grow
with Christ’s bravery, the Spirit’s counsel and God’s unending love that
squelches fear. This book reads like a love letter from God, while offering practical
heart-calming prayers, anxiety-reducing tips, and courage-building decrees that
will transform your day.
About Kelly Balarie:
Kelly is both a Cheerleader
of Faith and a Fighter of Fear. She leans on the power of God, rests on
the shoulder of Christ, and discovers how to glow in the dark places of life. Get all
Kelly’s blog posts by
email or visit her on her blog, Purposeful Faith. You
can also find a variety of resources for your fight against fear at http://www.fearfightingbook.com/.
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