What’s your ideal vacation? For many, it’s a tropical island far from the normalcy of life: St. Marteen. Fiji. The Maldives. While I would love to lounge at one of these beautiful locations (and I’ve honeymooned at one of these 😉), Valerie and I decided to start of the year by going to Iceland. That’s right – Iceland… in the middle of January! Our primary reason was to celebrate my brother-in-laws 30^th birthday who lives in New York. What an amazing time we had!

We only had a short amount of time, so we attempted to experience all the ‘hotspots’ of Iceland as quickly as possible. The Blue Lagoon. Gullfoss (an epic waterfall). Geysir (a geyser… I told you there were hotspots!). Yet we still needed to see the incredible glaciers of of Jökulsárlón Glacier Lagoon. However, the sight requires dedication as we would have to drive almost 6 hours and wake up early enough to fit within our 6 hours of daylight that Icelandic winters have. We made our preparations the night before and took off early that next day.

About a few hours into our trip, the unexpected happened – it began to snow! As the snow continued to fall and increase with intensity, so did our anxiety about continuing to our destination. We drove for a few more minutes and now the ground was covered in fresh powder. We stopped the car and froze. Thoughts began to flood our minds:

            What if the car breaks down?

            What if the snow traps us and we have to stay the night in the car?

            How are we going to survive?

Being natural natives of southern California, we were outside of our element. Then someone in our party remembered the hotline we can call for weather information. We could get updated and real-time information on our snowy condition. We made the call and a kind Icelandic man (Icelandic people are so friendly!) reassured us that the snowfall will stop soon and that it was safe to proceed  further to Jökulsárlón. Although it was still snowing, everyone in our vechile was relieved because we had an expert give us the correct information we needed and to encourage us onward as our guide.

This experience got me thinking: What if we had turned back? What if we allowed the fear to inform our decisions rather than take the steps to ensure that we can still move forward to our destination? If we would have given into fear, we would not have experienced the breathtaking wonders of God’s creation at Jökulsárlón {see pictures throughout the post!}

We do not have to be on a vacation in a foreign land to know that fear can get the best of us at times. There are moments where fear paralyzes us from making the right decisions. There are instances where we shrink back from speaking the truth in love, pursing what the Holy Spirit has put in our hearts, or fully embracing who God says we are. This can be a daily struggle that each of us face.

Thankfully… there is hope! God is love, God loves you, and God lives in you! Therefore, if you live for God, your love grows more perfect each day. Your growth in love is of the utmost importance because it is perfect love that expels all fear. If we listen to what the Holy Spirit says and live as Jesus walked, we will be guided by love instead of reacting to fear in all that we do (see 1 John 4:16-18 for more).

Just as our group was reassured by the Icelandic man to continue our destination, so the Scriptures are given for guidance in our journey of life. The Word is used for training in righteousness (2 Timothy 3:16), blessing (Luke 11:28), and is eternal (Matthew 24:35).  Imagine how the Word of God can guide us in our daily decisions! For example:

Are you feeling insecure about who you are?

• Your Heavenly Father sees you as a masterpiece, created in Christ Jesus to do good works (Ephesians 2:10).

Are you afraid of standing up for righteousness?

• In those moments of uncertain, God will give you strength and increases the power of the weak (Isaiah 40:29).

The list of fearful situations can go on, but so does the lineup of faithful solutions to overcome our doubts, anxieties, and shortcomings. Scripture has 365 references to overcoming fear because the Lord knew we would need the courage to represent Him well in the world. “Do not fear” goes for each one of us embracing an extraordinary life of faith.

What fearful situation are you facing today, this week, or this year? Is this fear keeping you frozen from the future God has for you?  I’d ask that you’d spend time in His Word and look up the verses that deal specifically with your fear. As you spend this precious time with Holy Spirit and the Holy Bible, embrace the faithful promise over the fearful response. You will begin to see that God’s Word is true and never fails because love never fails (1 Corinthians 13:8). Then watch as the fear melts away before you as you walk in boldness that God will give you.

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