work a single thing in my life and I never really even feel that well just five minutes after reading one. I call them half-baked solutions to a crippling problem.
I am left discouraged; after all, I have tried it all. I have tried to will myself into better thinking: Kelly, you can do it, stop fearing. I have tried to chide myself into better thinking: Kelly, you will never pull yourself together if you act like this. I have even tried to shame myself into confidence: Kelly, you are going to push everyone away with your bad anxiety.
When all these efforts fail, I normally give up and give in to some sort of pleasure to get my mind off it: TV, food, drink, movie— you name it, I know it.
Even talking about this induces my other cure-all answer that is easy to offer: Kelly, give’ em Jesus. He will make everything all right.
It is not so much that I don’ t have to be struggling as it is just that I have to get after Jesus and bring Him into my struggle with me. Doing this— it is called chasing brave.
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Kelly Balarie has lived her subject matter. Her faith was built as she battled through an eating disorder, depression, serious health concerns, company failures, family tragedies, job losses, and times without income. Throughout it all, Kelly has looked past the pain to pursue God’ s always-unfolding plan. Kelly is a featured blogger at Crosswalk. com and iBelieve. com. Her work has been featured on Relevant,( in) courage. me, and Today’ s Christian Woman. She lives with her husband and two toddlers near the sunsoaked shores of the East Coast.
Purchase your copy of Fighting Fear at: http:// bakerpublishinggroup. com / books / fear-fighting / 381501
48 SMG Solutions
But things didn’ t look“ all right” for Jesus. Things weren’ t all peaches and sugar with a dollop of whipped cream on top. They were hard. They were painful. They were tough.
Jesus never said to expect easy. So why do we?
And maybe this is the exact kind of encouragement I really need. I need to know someone gets me. Someone understands. Someone declares it hard. Someone has been down a road with a debilitating cross on His back as He pushed into real life. Knowing this, I won’ t feel so alone and scared. Then I can maybe see how He made it— and not just made it but made it safely home— and how He makes sense out of everything, even the little things, the pains and threats of today.