Article August 18, 1997 Issue

Don't let fear rob you of opportunity

Sandy Portincaso

I had prayed over a year for a more spiritual understanding of companionship. Then, quite unexpectedly, I met a fine man with three wonderful kids. Later, we decided to be married.

At first I felt very peaceful about this decision and quite excited about moving to a new city, becoming a wife, a first-time parent, gaining in-laws, and making new friends. But one day I awoke to a smothering sense of fear. Fears about the marriage ending in divorce, the challenges of stepparenting, and dealing with change filled my every thought.

I prayed to let go of anxiety about moving from the familiar to the unknown, worry about losing existing good things in my life and perhaps not having as much good to fill its place, and doubt as to whether I had the skills required to succeed in these new roles. I longed to forget "those things which are behind, and [to reach] forth unto those things which are before," as the Apostle Paul puts it (Phil. 3:13). But the dread remained.

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