My kids play a LOT of sports between all of them. Our little sister, Trynli, just recently got her turn to be on a real softball team after watching her brothers from the sidelines for years. This summer she played for our local softball organization's all star team. During the championship game (which they lost just fyi), one of the opposing team's batters hit a line drive that nailed Trynli right in the chest. It bounced off and she went to grab it still trying to make the play. She never even flinched. (She is a tough cookie, but those balls are also way more rubbery than normal softballs.)
As I watched this happen, it just made me think about how scared so many of these little girls are to get hit by one of these balls...including Trynli. They have to work so hard with them over and over to show them that if they knock the ball down the right way, it won't hurt. The anxiety of just the thought of that ball hitting them is enough for them to not play confidently and to their full potential...just the mere thought of it. Don't get me wrong, if you take a ball - no matter how rubbery- the wrong way, it will hurt. It can bloody you up quickly, but let's get to where we're going.
How many of us let the fear of something reign and rule over us? It isn't even a reality, probably most of these enemy fueled fears won't even become a reality, but we give them power nonetheless. We are tortured with all the images of what it will be like, how it will hurt, who it will hurt, etc. In the end, we are no longer able to live to our full potential, confidently enjoying the life the Lord has blessed us with much like those little tiny softball players unable to enjoy their game.
As Trynli found out, getting hit by that ball wasn't actually nearly as bad as she had imagined it would be. When our hope and joy comes from our circumstances being perfect and painless, then we are taking the ball all wrong. We are bound to end up bloody because freedom from the enemy's fear, whether it comes true or not, is in knowing that our hope and joy come from our rest in the one who controls it all. If we can trust him enough to believe his plan is good even if it includes our biggest fears, the sting of that ball doesn't hit like we imagined it would. Taking every thought captive and not allowing ourselves to spiral down into a full blown cinemark in our mind of all our "what if's" is also key to fielding that hard hit ball correctly. No doubt, I am in this battle with you, but if anyone has experienced coming out bloody verses coming out shockingly unscathed, it's me. And, that isn't a testimony to the circumstances changing to perfect...it is a testimony to the Lord being faithful even when they are not.
