Article January 11, 2016 Issue

Banishing fear with Love

Deborah Huebsch

Several years ago I was faced with an extreme fear of having an accident. This came about after I’d been riding my horse in a wilderness park. Suddenly a mountain biker had come speeding up out of nowhere, and we’d narrowly avoided a collision. 

Although nothing had happened that day, the incident left me with a gripping fear of having a serious accident in the future. This fear was so intense that I was scared to ride my horse. I tried several times over a period of several months, but found I had to get off and lead him on foot. I was so afraid that I was actually shaking. Finally I realized that I couldn’t just push through the fear. Something more than willing myself to get over it was needed. At that point I turned wholeheartedly to God for guidance.

This familiar verse from the Bible came clearly to my thought: “Perfect love casteth out fear” (I John 4:18). What is perfect love? We know from another of John’s statements that “God is love” (I John 4:16). Divine Love is perfect because it is God, invariable good. I began my prayer with the realization that because God fills all space, Love is ever present—the only presence. Divine Love is infinite, so there is no possibility of anything unlike Love, such as fear, danger, or any threat to our well-being.

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