Lesson 47

How can I live above my fears?

From Timothy’s writing above, we see that God does not want us to dwell in a spirit of fear. When we live in Him, we are enabled to live in a spirit of power and love and self-control even in the midst of challenging times. Our certainty is in Christ, not in the human frailty of our husbands. When Kay learned of her husband’s secret involvement with pornography, she held tightly to 2 Timothy 1:7, saying, “God gave me a courageous spirit through Him and I should not worry or be consumed with worry, but trust fully in Him and lean on His power for my life!”

Her biggest fear at the time was that her marriage wouldn’t survive. “We were a few weeks away from celebrating our 30th anniversary when we began marriage counseling. At that first meeting our Christian counselor talked to us together, then separately, then together. At the end he asked if there were any questions, and I asked him if he thought our marriage could or would survive and then he asked me something: Do you love one another? I said yes. My husband said yes. Our counselor said that there was hope for our marriage because of that love.”

Kay kept reminding herself of God’s promises to be there for her. It was a great encouragement for her godly counselor to make the observation that their marriage had hope because of their love for the Savior and for each other. “I clung to his statement for months, longing for things to be normal. His words were a balm to my spirit as I leaned on the Lord to bring renewal and restoration to our marriage (which He did!).”