Scaredy Cat

True story. Three nights ago my husband was at work. I walked into our bedroom to get ready to go to sleep. I turned on our light, walked toward the bed, turned around, and there.....above the door.....a centipede. I used an expletive.

At this point I do not have a lot of options. My kids are genetically part me and aren't going anywhere near this thing, either. My husband is at work for another hour at least. (Didn't stop me from calling to tell him about the situation.)

So now I'm in a staring contest. Plan A. I call for the man child to get me a shoe and a bottle of hairspray. Typically, I spray, wait for it to drop, and then beat it to death. However, my nemesis had outplayed me. Being above the door frame if he ran opposite in either direction of what I was expecting, he'd be behind the dresser or in the closet. No good.

Okay, Plan B. Send man child to neighbor to see if either of her teenage boys are less chicken than me to kill it. Sadly, they aren't home. But my neighbor, a savy and inventive woman, comes armed with a squeeze mop, broom, and step stool. She smashes it in the wall, it drops, runs in the hallway and meets its demise under her shoe. All is right with the world and we can all go to sleep after I offer her my sincerest and deepest thanks.

My fear of centipedes has never faded from childhood to adulthood. They are creepy and freaky and they move lightning fast. My vocabulary gets very colorful when I see one. What you need to understand is that I see it and then get scared. Seeing = fearing. This is logical. Not because it's got some super power to harm me but because it's visible and therefore a true threat.

If seeing = fearing when it comes to centipedes, then why on earth do I fear what I can't see? Worse yet, why do I let my imagination run wild with potential scenarios that create fear over what I've seen already happen in my mind that has never existed for even a moment in reality?

I am not about to plaster this post with every verse about not fearing because you probably already know at least as many as I do. But I think it is worth repeating that when we are fearing anything it's because we are (a) believing the enemy when he says that God isn't good, (b) believing the enemy when he says that God is not going to take care of us, and (c) believing the enemy when he says that he will help us with our own plans to overcome on our own. HE IS A BOLD-FACED LIAR. He's desperately wants us to take matters into our own hands because if he does and we fail, it makes his accusations against God seem all that more viable.

Overcoming what we've been fearing for far too long is not going to be easy. But maybe if we start with one very simple question.....can I ACTUALLY see it right now in front of me.........and then proceed from there, we'll start to gain some victory over where the enemy has kept us bound. Even if we stumble from time to time over our deepest insecurities, let's get used to telling ourselves in the flood or the fire You are with me and You won't let go.