Hidden fears that rob us of peace and ruin our confidence

This week, we will focus on emotional and spiritual health. I will start with my sermon of July 17, 2011 as it relates to peace of mind and confidence. I am posting it as one piece. Enjoy!

What if I lose my job? What if the bank forecloses on my house? What if my neighbour is a criminal? What if I get scammed? What if I have a terminal disease? What if I don't get someone to marry me? What if my marriage fails? What if my in-laws don't accept me? What if they hurt me? What if my children don't make it? What if I don't get the job? What if I end up a failure in life? What if..? What if...? The list of people and things that scare us seems to be growing steadily. We seem to be losing peace of mind and confidence in everything and everyone everyday. How did many of us become so crippled by fear with little or no confidence left? The answer I found is BROKEN TRUST!

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Life is all about relationships and every relationship is built and sustained by TRUST. When trust is broken, it is not just the relationship that suffers but also the people involved and everything around them. This is what I mean:

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One day I watched a father teach his young son a lesson on trust. The father told his son to climb up a relatively high brick wall. When the young boy did, he instructed him to jump from the height; that he would catch him and not let him fall. Trusting his father, the boy jumped and as soon as he did, his dad moved away and let the little boy hit the ground. With tears in his eyes he cried: Dad Why did you do that to me? His dad said 'just to teach you a very important lesson: "TRUST NO ONE INCLUDING ME". Although it was only a scene in a movie years ago, each time I remember the scene I still shudder because I know it happens people all the time.
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Many of us have been directly or indirectly taught a lesson on TRUST like that little boy by people  close to us. Family members have taken advantage of us and best friends have betrayed us again and again. After many of such disappointments, deceptions and betrayals, we have become failure prone and rigidly resolved to never trust anyone, ANYONE, including God!
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Truth is, when we settle for a life of 'TRUST NO ONE', we do ourselves more harm than good. We start living in fear and losing peace of mind. The 'what if' questions rush in like a flood and we find ourselves always expecting things to go wrong and expecting people to disappoint us even when those people have great intentions. Usually, things turn out the way we expect.
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Allow me to share a very valuable lesson on TRUST with you. I believe it will help you rebuild your broken trust and regain your lost peace and confidence if you are affected. .
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Lack of trust is not a smart-self protection solution but a type of disorder called fear This disorder usually manifests itself as:
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Paralysis of the mind: Nothing paralyzes the mind like fear. Whether it is fear of disappointment, fear of failure, fear of deception, the effect is the same: paralyzed mind. Fear overworks your mind and kills your creativity. Fear makes fool of a genius and cripple a giant. I have seen intelligent people fail job interviews because they were too nervous. Unfortunately, we have coined fancy words to describe fear such as nervousness and scary. "I am so nervous right now" or "That scares me to death" Please do not accept this as a normal state of the mind. When God created us he did not give us the spirit of fear but of love and sound mind. If you are always nervous, scared or suspicious, you need to take steps to deal with the root of the problem: broken trust.