The Beauty of Choosing Bravery
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This morning I had the amazing opportunity to go canopy zip-lining in Western North Carolina. I am not a big fan of heights, but it is not debilitating. However, there was a woman in our tour group who we found out pretty quickly had overwhelming anxiety of heights. Placing this woman in a harness and on a zip line to fly over 100 feet in the air was no small task.
When I recently flew a short flight with my husband, I realized just how great a victory that truly was when he leaned over to me while holding my hand and said, “How did you fly all the way across the world?” I answered, “God.” The Lord helped me on that long journey to find things to focus on that were positive. Instead of focusing on all of the negatives, I would be in awe of the beauty of the earth below, admire the sun, be thankful for the kind attendants, spend time in the Bible and praying, or working on something productive. We can take our anxious energy and put it to better use.
When the woman was nearby on the zip line tour, she fought hard and I could see in her face the battle going on in her mind. There were moments when she focused on the beauty of the trees and even shared some nature facts. From the outside looking in, that perspective was there within her, but she became overcome by her fears in the end.
I am not saying that this is not a fight, but the battle for our minds has been won by Christ. Philippians 4:7 says, “And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” When we are in a tough situation, it is understandable how we can lack peace, but Jesus is beyond our imaginations. The way in which we respond to anxiety can be a witness to others of the work of Jesus. No, we do not have to be fearless, but we can take steps to move forward through our anxious thoughts and choose to ask the Holy Spirit to guard our hearts and minds and to refocus our thinking on the positive and the productive.
The truth is that the woman who was afraid on the zip line was going to give up after the first line. However, our group encouraged her with words and cheered her on. She ended up going 1/3 of the way and did four times as many lines as she would have done on her own. This reminds us that to be anxious and to isolate is defeat. When we press into the gift of community, or even just one friend or counselor to motivate us, we can go further and do more than we could ever have on our own.
Sometimes God places people in our lives to believe for us when we do not believe as much in ourselves. Ephesians 4:9-10 says, “Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor: If either of them falls down, one can help the other up. But pity anyone who falls and has no one to help them up.”
We all have various fears, but we can have transformed perspectives as we look towards the Lord who love us. We can remind ourselves of the truth, find the positive and productive, and press into the community. Even if we make small strides in the battle of anxiety, we can celebrate the progress. There is true beauty in choosing to be brave with the help of God. He grows our faith, we can witness to others, and we can recognize how He is helping us be refined more like Himself.
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