Hope 2: Facing Your Fears, episode 54 (rebroadcast)

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If you love a prodigal, you can discover help and hope for your wilderness journey right here at When You Love a Prodigal.

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And also help and hope for your own life journey.

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Today we are continuing a five-part series on hope.

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We all need hope. We cling to hope. We weep when hope is dashed.

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And oh, how we groan to overcome our fears because we lose hope.

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So I want you, as we talk about facing your fears, be listening and pay attention to what strikes you as something that will help you to face the fears you have regarding a prodigal loved one.

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But jot them down so you don't forget them.

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My friend Dina, in her book You Are Not Alone, Hope for Hurting Parents of Troubled Kids, relates the time when she knew she had to confront her worst fears for her prodigal.

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She wrote them down so she could see them, acknowledge them, and face them.

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And here are some of the desperate fears she recorded.

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I am afraid because Renee could be kidnapped and held against her will, be abducted and sold into sex trafficking, disappear and never be seen or heard from again,

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move away and sever ties with us forever, suffer irreversible brain damage from drug use, die from a drug overdose, die from alcohol poisoning, give up and commit suicide to end her suffering.

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When you love a prodigal, you live with fear.

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Some of us haven't come to such extreme fears as Dina listed, but I know you have your own list of the fears that grip your heart.

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Destroy your trust and steal your hope.

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How can we hold on to hope?

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Remember this verse from last week from our first episode on hope, may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

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Overflow with hope?

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How is that possible?

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Fear overshadows our hope.

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What do we do with that fear?

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We can do what Dina did.

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We can name our fears.

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We can write them down or at least say them aloud what we are afraid of.

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We can be specific.

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Use Dina's list.

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Something terrible could happen to her or we might never see her again or she might die.

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Or whatever the fears that you are facing regarding your loved one, naming them helps to take away some of the power of fear.

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And as we name them, we allow ourselves to weep, to mourn, to lament the possible reality of those things we fear.

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I find it helpful after naming those fears to offer them to the Lord, lifting my hands up to do so or lay them on an altar or something I'm calling an altar.

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I usually just lift my hands up figuratively, holding my fears up to the Lord, giving them to him.

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A number of times as I have recognized that my desires for a safe and godly future for our son had become an idol,

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I wrote my fears on paper, then I burned the paper as an offering to the Lord.

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I have saved those ashes from the several times I have done that in a small alabaster urn to remind me to keep on giving my fears to God.

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It's right where I work.

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I can see it if I just look up from where I'm sitting.

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Another oh-so-helpful key for me to get free from fear is to say, thank you, Lord.

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Thank you for the things I'm afraid might happen to my beloved prodigal.

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Yes, even for those and for God's love and mercy and grace for me and for my wanderer.

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Thanking God is freeing. It opens the door for God to work in me and in my prodigal.

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Then we can remember that scripture contains several hundred admonitions to fear not or do not be afraid.

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Don't you like that? Do not be afraid.

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Let's look at some of those scriptures spoken by God to some of his servants who had plenty of reason to be afraid.

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To Abram or Abraham when he had no child and God says you're going to be the father of millions.

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After this, the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision.

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Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your very great reward.

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To Moses as he led the children of Israel in the desert, the Lord said to Moses,

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do not be afraid of him, Pharaoh or other leaders of nations, small nations.

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Do not be afraid, Moses, for I have delivered him, this one king, into your hands along with his whole army and his land.

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Do not be afraid.

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To Joshua as he became the leader to take the children of Israel into the promised land, have I not commanded you?

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Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid.

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Do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.

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To Elijah when he had to tell King Ahaziah that he the king would die, the angel of the Lord said to Elijah,

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go down with him. Do not be afraid of him.

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So Elijah got up and went down with the servant of the king to the king.

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Then to the disciples when Jesus came walking on water in the storm and they were terrified,

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Jesus immediately said to them, take courage, it is I.

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Do not be afraid.

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And to the disciples when Jesus told them he would be leaving.

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Peace I leave with you. My peace I give you.

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I do not give to you as the world gives.

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Do not let your hearts be troubled.

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And do not be afraid.

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Are our fears imaginary? No, they could come true in the life of a prodigal we love.

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Will those fears return? Possibly.

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Even probably. New circumstances can trigger them.

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Our enemy, the devil, will send arrows containing those fears right into our minds and even our hearts.

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We can grow weak and weary.

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Is hope real? Can it last? Will our hopes be fulfilled?

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Hope placed not in our circumstances nor in the restoration of our prodigals.

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But God himself is real. It will last. That hope will be fulfilled.

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Jeremiah the prophet lived in very hard times and had to deliver many hard messages

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which people didn't want to hear. And he had real reason to fear.

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Yet he said, My eyes, this is speaking for God,

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My eyes will watch over them for their good, and I will bring them back to this land.

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I will build them up and not tear them down. I will plant them and not uproot them.

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I will give them a heart to know me, that I am the Lord.

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They will be my people, and I will be their God, for they will return to me with all their heart.

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The prophet Micah tells of his hope even in the midst of being betrayed.

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For a son dishonors his father, we know that.

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A daughter rises up against her mother. A daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.

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A man's enemies are the members of his own household.

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But as for me, Micah says, I watch in hope for the Lord.

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I wait for my God, my Savior. My God will hear me.

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So what can you do with your very real fears for your prodigal?

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Write them down. Give them to God. Make them an offering.

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Give thanks. Take God at his word. Do not be afraid.

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Choose one to start with. Seek to do it today.

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Let me just say those again. You can just write them down.

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But then you can give them to God. You can even make them like an offering to God.

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You can give thanks that God is working. And you can take God at his word when he says, do not be afraid.

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Choose one to start with and seek to take a step toward it today.

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Be sure to take a look at the show notes on your podcast platform.

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There's a lot more helpful information, resources, and books.

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And check out my website, judydouglass.com. That's Douglass with two S's.

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Lots of stuff for you there. And thank you for joining me today on the When You Love a Prodigal podcast.

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If you enjoyed today's episode, take a minute and check subscribe.

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But your review helps the show reach more people with the hope and encouragement that Jesus gives us.

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So, may you this week experience a new level of trust and hope from our Lord.

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God bless you.