it's gonna be good.

October 20th, 2011 was the last post made on this blog. Hmm. Let's rectify the situation with a brief entry. (that turned out to not be brief - at. all.)

Shrews. Fear. Gonna be good.

So, as I begin writing more publicly, I'm coming from a couple different places it would be good for you maybe to have a heads-up about. or not. I guess I'll decide that as I go. I'd like to be able to write to each of your hearts, but I suppose that's not entirely up to me. Most of us are in different places spiritually, relationally, personally, physically, vocationally, but I'd love to share so that each of us can connect with something each time we're together. I'm not wanting to initiate debate. I do want to speak out of the reality of my own daily workings-through of this crazy beautiful thing called life. My desire is to know more life, to live more fully, to live unafraid of its hurts, its challenges, its highs and lows, to press into it. So here we go --

A shrew and I were having a stare-down (except that I'm not certain a shrew could see across the kitchen in the middle of the afternoon - somewhat irrelevant) yesterday around 3pm as I was attempting to tackle a project for work during quiet time. This shrew was anything but quiet as he enjoyed the delights of our unswept kitchen floor corners. The audacity he showed as he scampered from one corner to the next, nibbling to his heart's content. Totally unafraid. I texted A (my man/husband) that a rodent and I were sharing the kitchen - no response. He apparently has much confidence in my stalwart ability to man-up where rodents are concerned. Possibly if  had said reptile, he would have come home from his Saturday out. Rodents are not exactly strangers in our home. Anyway. That evening before coming to bed he must have set out a couple traps, because we woke up to E (our daughter) saying, "We caught a shrew!" and K (our son) trailing close behind to inform us of something new, "We caught a shrew! And a mouse!" This was enough to pull A from his resting place to peruse the trophies of his mad trap-setting skills. I paused to be certain all extinguished rodents had been done away with, after which I joyously entered the celebration in the kitchen.

The shrew was unafraid. It cost him his life.

I came home this evening from a class on fear with thoughts filling my mind like glitter in a snowglobe.

Fear according to Robby Dawkins:

• We fear when we forget who we are and believe the lies that say we're being overlooked, unheard, unloved, not enough - - -
• Satan loves to minister to us through fear, unbelief, believing that God is withholding something from us, questioning the provision of God in our lives: spiritual, physical, emotional.
• Those feelings and thoughts of fear are not you.
• Fear is a spirit, and the way to rid yourself of that spirit is to speak truth, act truth.
• Fear is a pre-emptive strike of the enemy, projecting onto you the fear he feels about you.
• I'd like to stay on this one for a long time, because I see this one play out daily in my life and in K's. I'm not going to spend very long on it right now. But, briefly: K is a very strong life-spirited boy, except in some areas of his life where fear grips him so intensely he feels a paralyzing sensation, at times bringing him to tears. Satan is aware of my boy. He is aware of how strong God has made K's spirit, that he is a warrior, that he lives out his name of, "companion. fighter. little warrior." That's where he makes his strongest hits with K. 
• Yesterday I feared a certain part of my everyday with K because of the potential fear it brought up. Right now I am feeling more alive about the truth our boy can walk in because fear isn't the "bad guy," and our son knows the truth. It will set him free every time. 
• Returning to the listing --
• When you're feeling fear, act the opposite. Rely on His strength, on Him who is inside you.
• Satan would love to disqualify you from life by causing you to believe you are something other than who you really are.

This is where the shrew comes back into the picture. So I'm at home for an entire minute tonight when I recall this morning's events and think, "That shrew was unafraid, and look what happened to him! I'm not so sure about all this." Almost before that final thought wrapped up, another thought, way more clear than those muddled doubting thoughts, cut through.

• Really?
• Are you a shrew? Is that who I made you to be? (God speaking.)
• Who are you?
• Aha!
• I am a child of the Most High God.
• I am an heir to the King who is over all authorities.
• I am beloved. (it's what "Cheryl" means, and I'm claimin' it.)
• And if the spirit of fear tries to take up residency on me or my family, it is going to be met with truth and insanely perfect love like it can not stand.

"For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind." 

2 Timothy 1:7

A couple other truth passages from tonight's talk if you want to go deeper in.

Deuteronomy 31:8; I Samuel 13:7-14, 15:17-24; Luke 1:71-76; Hebrews 13:6

If the enemy tries to come at you with the spirit of fear, it's his pre-emptive shot at the reality of who you are and the life God has for your life. Out loud, claim truths and perfect love, because if Satan is sending the spirit of fear or unbelief to you, God has something huge for you, and it's gonna be good.