2 Timothy 1:7 ASV For God gave us not a spirit of fearfulness; but of power and love and discipline.
There is a lot of stuff that I am unnecessarily afraid of like the uncertain future of how I will be able to have children(or what my life will be like without them), fear of becoming terminally ill, fear of my husband getting hurt on the job, or the fear of not being able to pay the mortgage and having to live on the streets! All of these fears I really have no control of, so I pray about it and leave it up to the Lord. A lot of times I do feel anxiety but I just know God doesn't want me to spend so much time worrying. He wants me to trust in Him, talk to Him about what I am scared of, read His word to find out what He wants me to know, and just keep it moving!
Facing fears, no matter how small, and overcoming them is God's way of showing me that He wants what's best for me. And reaching my full potential is a requirement.
I have always been a swimmer. In fact I learned to swim about the same time that I learned to walk. My sign is Pisces so I am very comfortable in the water; oceans, rivers, lakes, pools, streams, a bucket of water..I am all over it! However, I have only done my fitness swimming in the pool. The pool has the wall to rest and push off of, lane dividers so you don't run into people, tiles that you can see to the bottom, an even current until you swim by a really large person, and no foreign objects(for the most part).
Swimming without stopping in the open water has been a big fear. So today I took an open water swim class on the Chesapeake Bay. Before the class I had so much anxiety and the biggest case of the 'what if's'. What if the water is too cold because I didn't have a wet suit, what if I encounter some wildlife that freaks me out and they bite or sting, what if the current is so high that when I turn my head for a breath and all I get is water, what if my goggles fill with water and I can't see, what if I get tense or fatigued and there is no place to rest so I just sink! My anxiety was so high, I contemplated my lack of estate planning....
But I still kept it moving.
But I still kept it moving.
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But I still kept it moving.
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There is a lot of stuff that I am unnecessarily afraid of like the uncertain future of how I will be able to have children(or what my life will be like without them), fear of becoming terminally ill, fear of my husband getting hurt on the job, or the fear of not being able to pay the mortgage and having to live on the streets! All of these fears I really have no control of, so I pray about it and leave it up to the Lord. A lot of times I do feel anxiety but I just know God doesn't want me to spend so much time worrying. He wants me to trust in Him, talk to Him about what I am scared of, read His word to find out what He wants me to know, and just keep it moving!
Facing fears, no matter how small, and overcoming them is God's way of showing me that He wants what's best for me. And reaching my full potential is a requirement.
View of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge from Sandy Point Beach
I have always been a swimmer. In fact I learned to swim about the same time that I learned to walk. My sign is Pisces so I am very comfortable in the water; oceans, rivers, lakes, pools, streams, a bucket of water..I am all over it! However, I have only done my fitness swimming in the pool. The pool has the wall to rest and push off of, lane dividers so you don't run into people, tiles that you can see to the bottom, an even current until you swim by a really large person, and no foreign objects(for the most part).
Swimming without stopping in the open water has been a big fear. So today I took an open water swim class on the Chesapeake Bay. Before the class I had so much anxiety and the biggest case of the 'what if's'. What if the water is too cold because I didn't have a wet suit, what if I encounter some wildlife that freaks me out and they bite or sting, what if the current is so high that when I turn my head for a breath and all I get is water, what if my goggles fill with water and I can't see, what if I get tense or fatigued and there is no place to rest so I just sink! My anxiety was so high, I contemplated my lack of estate planning....
But I still kept it moving.
The class instructors wrote numbers on our hands to ensure the same bodies that went into the water were the same bodies that came back out. They assured us that so far,they had a 100% return rate....um.. OK...
Just about all of my fellow swimmers wore their spiffy wet suits except poor little me!
They gave us a talk in the beginning to give us advice for a good swim like singing a song in your head if you start to panic(*gulp*), preparing us for un-apologetically getting smacked or kicked by fellow swimmers, how to sight landmarks to stay on course or else you might swim off into the wild blue yonder, and not to attempt to run on top of the water if you spot the friendly animals that have a 4 foot wing span and hang out in packs of at least twelve(I didn't even catch the name of the animal all I heard was "4 foot wing span" and "gang of twelve"!)
But I still kept it moving.
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Armed with my fresh 'knowledge' I head to the water. I lagged behind and let the gung-ho wet suits go in first. When it was my turn, I dove right in and discovered that the temperature was not shockingly cold. So, I swam the first leg of the 500meter loop and didn't look up so I got off track and away from the group, once I got back on track I ran into people, and then I panicked thinking that I saw one of the twelve gang members.
But I still kept it moving.
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Here's part of the 500meter loop with the instructors in kayaks. I am the little black dot with the yellow swim cap.
The longer I swam, the more I became comfortable, confident, and me fears of the open water relieved. I enjoyed myself so much I ended up swimming about 1500meters- nearly a mile! I discovered, in a brand new way, the aspects of swimming that I love-the space and freedom, the living in the moment, the determination to just keep it moving; all the while experiencing the earth that God created in a new dimension.
May the Lord continue to calm my fears so I live the life He gave me to the fullest, In Jesus name
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