A spirit of fear.

Each morning we have devotions. These can be a community DEVO. (anyone and everyone on the ship who's not on their shift work.. or a department DEVO (mine would include dining, hospitality, and housekeeping crew) or individual department DEVO's .. which was what we had today.. for the first time this week. So the six of us sat in our tiny office. Heather, a girl is actually leaving this week =( shared. And it's sad b/c of barely gotten to know her.. but she's wonderful. She shared part of her amazing testimony which focused on her childhood and dealing with fear. And she spoke to us about her favorite verse  which was .. For the Lord did not give us a spirit of fear, but a spirit of power, and love and of self-discipline. (2 tim. 1:7) and I remember Nik telling me that verse at some point over e-mail while he was in germany.. when I was fearful about something ... and it has always stuck with me.. and I found that gets me through a lot. Whether it be standing up in front of the church to say something.. or stepping on a plane to go to Africa. But to be able to have these words in our hearts and in our minds is so powerful. Knowing scripture and being able to apply it to out struggles is so cool. To have something I'm dealing with and just to be able to say to myself... Lord, you have not given me this fear.. take it from me. 

And the Bible tells us in Hebrews 4:12 .. 

For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.

Its living and active. So praying and thinking thoughts with scripture and mind. WAY BETTAH (there's a phonetically spelled british accent for you all.)  =P