In Other Words: Fear to Fearless (Book Review included)

“Have I not commanded you?
Be strong and courageous.
Do not be frightened,
and do not be dismayed,
for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”

Joshua 1:9 ESV

I

am again in awe of how God has knocked on the door of my heart with this verse going through my mind along with a new book to review.   Not only did this verse apply to fears I am continually working on,  but  God spoke it so uniquely in  daughter’s life.  I shared last week how it was the two year anniversary of her emergency open heart surgery when she was at the hospital for a totally unrelated check-up (though we knew she’d need another open heart surgery eventually).  We were staying in the hospital hotel, and while trying to go to sleep, Jessica went into heart failure.  We were able to rush her the the pediatric ER and hours later she was having emergency open heart surgery to save her life.  The hardest part for her was this happened at night, while trying to fall asleep.  It was quite traumatic.  For many months after she came home she had a hard time falling asleep, needing medication to calm her down.  It’s very infrequent now for this to happen.  But, I think being the two year anniversary and us talking about it more, she’s  relived it in her mind and a few nights ago went through a major panic attack time.  She cuddled with my husband and I in bed, and we talked with her and prayed with her.  And then, I remembered about this book, Fearful To Fearless: Biblical Truths to Inspire You to Live a Life Free of Fear and to Worship God, sitting on my nightstand that I had just read through.

There are close to 400 verses shared throughout Fearful To Fearless, with several Scripture verses on each page, and then just a few sentences of the author’s thoughts on it, this can easily be used as a devotional, which I’ve encouraged Jessica to do.  There’s lots of space to write notes on the pages.  The neat thing is just about every day for the past week now, she has brought the book to me, showed me verses she underlined and little notes she wrote by it.  She’s **starred** some verses, and put smiley faces by some of the author’s notes.  She’s taken it to heart . . .  and God is using her and this book to encourage me as well.

She probably learned to fear from watching her mom get overwhelmed and to the panic point.  And so we are trying to hold each other accountable and encourage each other with Scripture.  On Wednesday one of my son’s is having a nuclear bone scan to confirm that the abnormal bone enlargement he has in his chest is from a past injury.  My mind can wander and I keep trying to claim verses like the one in today’s In Other Word’s quote/Bible verse and ones I am reading with Jessica through Fearful To Fearless.  Then three of my adult children are leaving early Friday morning for Atlanta, GA for the Passion 2011 conference.  They are so excited, but again, I think of all the things that can happen on their 16 hour drive and then in an unknown area.  I was frustrated with myself today in getting worked up and then Jessica showed me the author’s thoughts on Job 5:22-23:

Though we may stumble we need not be afraid,
for we have a peace that allows us to be encouraged
by the power and greatness of God,
even during trials.
Fearful To Fearless by Jeff Kusner

As today’s quote/verse shows, God commands us to be strong and courageous and not to be frightened or dismayed.  It’s work . . . daily work for me (sometimes minute by minute work), but I see how God is bringing it strongly to my attention and my daughter’s.  I am hopeful she will be so much ahead of me in this area with working on it early in her life.

A special thank you to our hostess for In Other Words, Patricia at Typing One-Handed for choosing today’s Bible verse for our quote.  Be sure to visit her blog and see how others have written on this verse as well.  And a special thank you to the author, Jeff Kusner, for providing a free copy of Fearful To Fearless to review honestly on my blog.  You can also visit the Fearful to Fearless Facebook Page.