Handling dread

Several days ago, someone said to me, "I have an appointment with the dentist, and I'm dreading it."

Ahh, yes, the dentist. One of the people who seem to make us uncomfortable, if not fearful, just by the mention of the word or name. Sort of like He Who Shall Not Be Named in the Harry Potter books!




The thought of the word "dread" came to mind as we discussed this appointment. She has always "hated" going to the dentist, so we talked about some truths with an appointment going harmoniously and that God is always holding us in His Love and because of that, we cannot feel any pain or discomfort, or even fear. All works for good and when good is the only result and expectation, we have nothing to fear.

As we were finishing this discussion, the thought occurred to me - the word dread, contains the letter d followed by the word "read". I thought then, "well, in order to counter dread - Duh, read!" I smiled to myself, and went to read - contained in the Bible are many citations dealing with being fearless - "And the Lord said unto Joshua, Fear not, neither be thou dismayed:" (Joshua 8:1); "And the Lord said unto him, Peace be unto thee; fear not: thou shalt not die." (Judges 6:23); "Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness." (Isaiah 41:10) ... among many others.

The Bible has the truth about fear. It is not real, because God is always here, providing good. And with good everywhere, there is no need to fear. It's like looking down from a high-wire and seeing a huge pillow under you - you know you'll be caught and have a safe landing, so there's no reason to fear being on the high wire!

So next time you feel fearful or have a sense of dread - duh, read!!! :-)