HI Maryjane, I would say that I have had victory over fear. I do not say that because I no longer fear, I often have moments of fear, I say it because it no longer rules me. One of the greatest moments of my life was a few years after I got saved. I was diagnosed with stage three pulmonory fibrosis. Prior to coming to Christ I always had a fear of dying( although again, no one would have know it) And here it was, disease without cure. The treatment was daily high doses of prednisone (70mg) A few weeks after beginning the treatment, the Lord whispered into my ear " come away with me Frank, put all your trust in me." I knew exactly what He meant, He wanted me to come of the pills(please, no one make this a formula, it is not)
Well, I decided to come of the pills. The specialist was angry with me and told me what would happen. My wife, my poor wife was distraught, just six weeks prior we had a child who had Down Syndrome and who had also a very serious medical condition that thratened his life. Well meaning friends came and told me how wrong I was and how irresponsible I was being. Everything eveyone was saying made logical sense, but.........the small still voice. The specialist was part of a national study and asked if I would continue to come in and he could take x-rays and study my regression, I agreed. Now, the most importnat part of this testimony is that at no time did the Lord say He was going to heal me, I was simply to trust Him. In the midst of this situation I was engulfed in the grace of God. It is true that when the enemy comes in like a flood then the Lord certainly does raise up a standard, His grace was entirely sufficient for me.
After three months, and going downhill quite quickly, just as the doctor had surmized, I got a call at 5.30 in the morning from Scotland. It was my mother. It was a Monday and she had been praying for her son and the Lord had spoken to her. He told her that He was going to heal me. She was to go to a certain prayer meeting on a the Tuesday night and ask to have my situation lifted up in prayer. She had no idea that I was to have one of my scheduled x-rays to measure my "regression,' on the Wednesday. I went there, as I had done every two weeks for the previous three months. The specialist called me into his office, he was a Jewish man. He had my x-rays up on his board with the light still not turned on. He said "Frank, I do not know what you are going to call this," and he flicked the light on. There it was, perfectly clear lungs. "Irreversible fibrosis," gone. He knew what I was going to call it:) I guess the point of telling that story was that the Lord had made me face my worse fear and because I surrendered my life into His hands, made a descision to trust Him, then the fear of death was conquered. I think the Lord, as He sanctifies His children, makes them face all of their fears, and if we surrender our lives into His hands, make a concious descision in every situation to trust HIm and know that there is nothing to big for our God, then we can walk in victory. Now remember, the victory for me was not that I lived or was healed, the victory was over that I had overcame fear because I had decided to trust in Him who overcame all things. I see a priciple here in tackling every fear............brother Frank
