Fear. The unpleasant emotion that keeps us up at night. The trickle down our spines when we sense its presence. The heart-stopping feeling that takes our breath away. Fear: it is the monster that sleeps inside of our heads, whispering in our ears to stop living, and giving us every reason not to.

Fear is when you have to walk up to give a presentation or when confronted by a manager. Fear is what we feel when we walk down a dark alley or are lost in the middle of nowhere. Fear is what we see when a child goes missing, or a bomb goes off. Fear is in the unknown, in the deadlines, and written across our faces when terror strikes.

It is the thief of joy and of peace, the constant reminder that you and I will never be enough. It ruins our relationships, destroying our confidence, and limiting our capabilities. Fear is a demon that looks at us in our eyes and laughs, mocking us for stepping out our beds and thinking we could conquer the day. Fear grabs you from behind, with one hand on your neck, whispering the very things that send us crawling under our covers at night.

It is the father of every lie you have ever heard or been told, and through time will seep into your mind, slowly killing you with every single one of those lies. It will murder your hopes and your dreams, in a matter of seconds it can change your opinion and make you re-think everything in your life.

Then there is the crippling fear, the can't breath can't think kind of fear. The type of fear that forces you to cry out, leaving you on the floor screaming your lungs out. Stopping time all around you, leaving you completely and totally trapped in your own mind. You can kick, you can scream, and you can cry your eyes out, but no one will ever hear you. All control over your body is gone, the only thing capable of movement are your thoughts running around your head forcing you to realize there really is no way out.

Fear is that tight corner, that broken elevator, and that room filled with spiders that your mind goes to in those moments. That's what fear gets us to do, to think of everything that scares us, everything that worries us, and everything that could go wrong. We imagine the worst, the worst of ourselves, of our circumstances, and allow the monster of fear to padlock the door to our lives, which is why I say, no more.

Fear suggests to me that love will always hurt me, and people will always fail me, but I know that perfect love expels all fear. It wants to stop my life and encourages me to fear each day. It tells me to forget Him and flee my negative situations all on my own. But He says, we can face each and every day, and that in Him fear.does.not.exist.

The choice is yours. What will you choose?

"For yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil."