I began reading Fearless by Max Lucado the week an alleged rapist was caught in my hometown. A monster roamed our tiny college town during the first weeks of school and left behind a trail of wreckage and despair. Like many neighbors I talked to, I had experienced such bitter heartbreak for the three girls attacked. I felt terror for the ones who could be the next target and a crushing sorrow to be reminded that evil walks next to our children in our protected, rural home.
Approaching Fearless with an open heart limping from the past weeks’ events, I wanted advice and found nuggets of strength. Lucado takes a look at the fears that envelope us as travelers in this world. He talks about our fears of failing to keep our children safe, of losing our jobs and homes and our fears of uncontrollable world disintegration. He speaks to our daily fears that we don’t matter, that our worries will all come true, that our health will fail and to our fear that God just can’t always offer the unconditional love he promises.
In Fearless, Lucado doesn’t write that everything in our lives will be okay, and he doesn’t try to explain away the horrible, devastating things that happen to us on earth. He skillfully weaves one life example after another, one bible story after another, to illustrate lessons to help readers live through fears that, if not checked, will overwhelm and weaken us.
I’ve underlined line after line of thought-provoking advice to revisit and study on how to deal with fear and worry in everyday life. Lucado’s advice on managing worry in Chapter 4 is a helpful step-by-step reminder of approaching daily life. I found myself explaining his “worry-stoppers” to my husband and one of my sons today because I felt they had so much merit. Fearless is a book I will gladly give to others as one that helped me work my way through a disheartening time, and I trust will bolster me in the future when other storms appear.
(Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this book for review. This was an unpaid review.)
No comments:
Post a Comment