#fromwhereIsit on FEAR Part 3

My grandmother, “MeMe,” and I have always been close. She showed immense patience with me as I was growing up. The day I married the love of my life, Denise, my MeMe remarked, “Nathan was a little blister when he was a boy.” I would have never known that from the way she treated me.

False Evidence Appearing Real

Last July, MeMe suffered a stroke. The stroke occurred on a Wednesday. Doctors had no major concerns for her recovery. However, that Friday I received a call that she had gone into cardiac arrest. The doctors resuscitated her, but the prognosis was grim. She would never breathe on her own again.

Fear set it.

Not the FEAR we’ve been discussing, but the kind that becomes your immediate reality. In the moment, there was no false evidence. The evidence was real. My grandmother of 35 years was dying.

MeMe had been there for me my entire life. She supported me through my parents’ divorce at age 5. She helped me refine my golf swing at age 12 (though this is still a work in progress), let me borrow her Buick LeSabre for my junior prom, sat by bed after major abdominal surgery at age 18 and wrote me countless letters during my college years to keep me from getting homesick.

Face Everything And Rise

I had two choices the day I learned she was dying. No one would have faulted me for staying home, praying and waiting for an update. The harder choice was to do something- face the present reality by seeing this precious inspriation clinging to life via ventilator.

Fears will become realities along life’s journey. It may be a terminal diagnosis of someone close to you or getting laid off with no severance and hungry children at home. We often have no control over the circumstances that forge our fears, but we can control our response.

We are human, so a period of mourning and uncertainty is inevitable  in these moments. However, we can also choose to combat the circumstances with hope that postive action can yeild positive outcomes. Pastor Rick Warren points out:

When King David writes, “Surely your goodness and unfailing love will pursue me,” he’s not saying, “Surely only good things will happen to me!” The fact is that bad things happen to good people. What David is teaching us is that God can take bad, evil, and difficult situations and bring something good out of them.

Face Everything doesn’t mean accepting the present reality as the final word. It means we must recognize that circumstances are circumstantial and face them head-on.

Rise Up to meet fear with action. You are most likely reading this while sitting down. No matter what your height and weight, it wouldn’t be difficult for me to subdue you in your sedentary position. However, rise up, and that’s a different matter. You could not only defend yourself, but you could fight back. Rising up is taking action.

Call for backup- don’t go at it alone. When fear grips your heart, surround yourself with others willing to face the circumstances and rise up with you in combat. These are the moments when prayer warriors, mentors and our closest friends become our comrades.

Writer and friend, John Spencer, recently penned

When we give in to fear, we hand over our freedom for a prison cell.

So gather the troops, rise up and fight. Take action.

My action last July was to drive to Altoona, sit with MeMe and pray. I could not cause her lungs to function normally, but God could. That night, she opened her eyes and squeezed my hand to communicate that she could understand my voice. I prayed that God would miraculously heal her or call her to His side. The next day I recieve one more call- MeMe was breathing on her own. Only a week ago she celebrated her 85th birthday, and I had the honor of being by her side once again.

Rise up!