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Hi friends,

I know Easter is now behind us, but I can’t stop thinking about Christ’s resurrection from the cross and His triumphant ascension into heaven.  Death could not hold Him.  He overcame!  He conquered!

He is Almighty God, the Alpha and Omega, and He has given us His POWER.  2 Timothy 1:7, “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.”

If you’ve been following my blog for a while, you’ll remember that I shared I used to battle with depression and anxiety for many years.  I still have not taken the time to sit down and write a post about how Jesus helped me overcome it (I will one day).  But until then, today I will tell you one important detail about those dark days of depression:

I was constantly filled with FEAR.

Fear of ridicule.  Fear of failure.  Fear of loneliness.  Fear of shame and guilt.  Fear of forever feeling hopeless and helpless.

My days were filled with fear.  My hands would shake; my heart race; my stomach churn.

Until one day… God helped me realize I had nothing to fear.  My life wasn’t about ME anymore or what I could accomplish on my own.  It instead became all about Him and what He could do through me.

Phil 4:13, “I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength.”  ALL things.  Not of our own strength and merit but of His.  Talk about a huge burden being lifted off your shoulders!

My life’s purpose is to give Him the glory and to minister to those around me.  When I started focusing on that, and when I purposefully meditated on His goodness, His promises, and His power, my all-consuming fear started to slip away.  I started saying, “YES!” to God a lot more, instead of “NO, I can’t” or “NO, I’ll fail.”

Now, don’t get me wrong.  I am human, after all, and I still have moments of fear, insecurity, and anxiety from time to time.  I think we all have those moments— some fleeting, some lingering— throughout different times of our lives.

I still need a reminder every now and then to push away those fears and to cover them with faith.  FAITH OVER FEAR!

The song, No Longer Slaves (by Jonathan & Melissa Helser), has really been resonating with me lately.  My little family is currently going through some life changes—some exciting (and even somewhat extreme) changes that I will share with you in the future.

But often with change comes the unknown… the uncertainty… and that’s where fear can quickly set in if we don’t turn it over to God and trust that He plans to prosper us and not to harm us.  Jeremiah 29:11, “‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.’”

More on this topic later… but for now, I invite you to hear the song, No Longer Slaves, which I recorded the other day, along with my “cardboard testimony.”  Click on the image below to watch the YouTube video.

May it inspire you and encourage you to live out your days with FAITH, not FEAR.  We are children of an Almighty God, and He created us with a spirit of power and love, not fear.

Amy