It is possible to receive great blessings and not enjoy them because of fear. It has a lot to do with our perspective. For instance, the Lord could bless me with a new house, but I spend all my time afraid that the deal will not go through. Instead of praising God for His blessing, I spend time fretting that things will not work out. It is just as easy, if not easier to expect a good outcome. We have to banish the negative thoughts that so often occur. These negative thoughts can rob us of our joy. When these negative thoughts come up, we have to replace them with faith-filled thoughts.
This is an ongoing practice that we must develop. Recently the Lord blessed my family to be able to go on a cruise. I am very aware that Covid is still being spread. Thank God we are not where we were when the pandemic was at its height. At first, the cruise lines declared strict Covid protocols. Passengers had to be vaccinated and/or get tested just prior to departure. I felt that gave me some measure of protection against being exposed to the virus. At the last minute, they changed the requirements to a come-one-come-all approach. No one had to be vaccinated and no one had to get tested. We were one of the few passengers that wore masks when we felt it was required. I would say 98% of the passengers were maskless.
I could have let that rob me of the enjoyment of the cruise. We prayed and asked God to protect us and we had a very relaxing, enjoyable cruise. If we had caught anything, it should have been manifested by now, so we did not contract any deadly virus. Praise the Lord!! Fear could have robbed us of the enjoyment of our blessing.
Satan comes to steal, kill, and destroy. He uses fear to rob us of our peace of mind and our enjoyment of life. He likes to plant that “what if” in our minds. His “what if” is always negative. We can replace it with a “what if” that is positive. “What if” everything goes according to plan.
In order to have peace of mind, we must walk in faith. We must firmly believe that everything is going to work out fine. We must also believe that God is working everything for our good.
The above photo was taken from our cabin.