What Fear Can Do To You

Have you experienced chest pains, heart palpitations, increased heart rate, dizziness, nausea, sweating, shortness of breath, sweating. Do you always have the feeling of losing control?

Can you relate to the above symptoms. If so, you are not alone. You may be suffering from anxiety or panic attacks. More than 26 million people have had at least one panic attack, and up to 14 million have been diagnosed with panic disorder. But we’re here to encourage you and boldly say that you can overcome and get your life back!

Fear is the master spirit at the root of all anxiety and panic…and it must be confronted to be overcome and that’s what we’re all about! Through your pain comes your purpose and we believe that when you come out on the other side of panic, you will have learned so much about yourself and about the importance of renewing your mind with the Word that you will be able to reach down and pull others up as well.

Fear can be overcome and must be overcome. God has intended for us to have peace and not fear. The following are what fears can do to us:

Fear causes us to worry instead of trusting God.
Fear destroys our Faith in God
Fear cuts us off from tapping on God’s resources. Fear brings disease and illness.
Fear blocks us from listening to God.
Fears keep us trying to hide, cover up and pretend.

Purpose in Life

Life may be pretty straightforward for some of us. We are comfortable with what we are doing. We go through periods of “up” and “down”, and we acknowledge that this is part of our life pattern.

For others, life seems too complex. The fast pace and complexity of life demands and pressures are straining and draining us. Illness or family problems may cause additional stress. We may feel a creeping sense of weariness with life, a sense that life is just too hard and not much fun. Even though we desire it, we're not sure our lives fit into a meaningful pattern.
Do you then find the meaning or purpose in life? How best could you fit in the universe and what should be done with your life? Is there such thing as destiny?

Bob Butford the author of the book “Halftime” believes that the second half of your life can be better than the first. Much Better. But first, you need time to figure out what you want to do with the rest of your life. So he recommends that a reader call “halftime” to reflect not only on where he’s going, but why.
In Halftime, Buford focuses on this important time of transition – the time when, as he says, a person moves beyond the first half of the game of life. It’s halftime, a time of revitalization and for catching new vision for living the second, most rewarding half of life.

As Buford explains, “My passion is to multiply all that God has given me, and in the process, give it back. That requires asking important questions:

What am I really good at?
What do I want to do?
What is most important to me?
What do I want to be remembered for?
If my life were absolutely perfect, what would it look like?

Mr Ang Thiam Hong, a pschotherapist & Career Coach talked recently in radion 938 live about finding purpose in your work. In his web site, he talked about the quality of our lives, where we live, who we become friends with, and what opportunities come our way. When the work we do is a mismatch with what we need and enjoy in basic ways, we tend to become frustrated and unhappy. He mentioned about the checklist to establish whether your work is in line with your purpose in life:


Do I wake up most Mondays feeling energised to go to work?
Do I have a deep energy or feel a personal calling for my work?

Am I clear about how I measure my success as a person?
Do I use my gifts to add real value to people's lives?

Do I work with people who honour the values I honour?
Am I expecting true joy in my work?

Do I go to sleep most nights saying "this was a well lived day"?
Am I making a living doing what I love to do?

Do I use my gifts to add real value to people's lives?
Can I speak my purpose in a statement?

Rick Warren, author of the best-selling book, The Purpose-Driven Life talks about the five purposes in a Christian life:

Worship
Discipleship
Fellowship
Ministry
Evangelism

A life devoted to things is a dead life, a stump; a God-shaped life is a flourishing tree. Proverbs 11:28 (Msg)
Blessed are those who trust in the Lord. They are like trees planted along a riverbank, with roots that reach deep into the water. Such trees are not bothered by the heat or worried by long months of drought. Their leaves stay green, and they go right on producing delicious fruit. Jeremiah 17:7-8 (NLT)"

So, is your life meaningful, or are you in your second half? Are you still struggling to find the purpose of your life?

No Arms, No Legs, No Worries

An amazing story of faith in adversity. If Nick's story doesn't convince us about God's love & His power & what faith can do, then nothing else will.

My name is Nick Vujicic and I give God the Glory for how He has used my testimony to touch thousands of hearts around the world! I was born without limbs and doctors have no medical explanation for this birth "defect". As you can imagine, I was faced with many challenges and obstacles.

" Consider it pure joy, my Brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds."

....To count our hurt, pain and struggle as nothing but pure joy? As my parents were Christians, and my Dad even a Pastor of our church, they knew that verse very well. However, on the morning of the 4th of December 1982 in Melbourne (Australia), the last two words on the minds of my parents was "Praise God!". Their firstborn son had been born without limbs! There were no warnings or time to prepare themselves for it. The doctors were shocked and had no answers at all! There is still no medical reason why this had happened and Nick now has a Brother and Sister who were born just like any other baby. The whole church mourned over my birth and my parents were absolutely devastated. Everyone asked, "if God is a God of Love, then why would God let something this bad happen to not just anyone, but dedicated Christians?" My Dad thought I wouldn't survive for very long, but tests proved that I was a healthy baby boy just with a few limbs missing.

Understandably, my parents had strong concern and evident fears of what kind of life I'd be able to lead. God provided them strength, wisdom and courage through those early years and soon after that I was old enough to go to school.

The law in Australia didn't allow me to be integrated into a main-stream school because of my physical disability. God did miracles and gave my Mom the strength to fight for the law to be changed. I was one of the first disabled students to be integrated into a main-stream school.

I liked going to school, and just try to live life like everyone else, but it was in my early years of school where I encountered uncomfortable times of feeling rejected, weird and bullied because of my physical difference. It was very hard for me to get used to, but with the support of my parents, I started to develop attitudes and values which helped me overcome these challenging times. I knew that I was different but on the inside I was just like everyone else. There were many times when I felt so low that I wouldn't go to school just so I didn't have to face all the negative attention. I was encouraged by my parents to ignore them and to try start making friends by just talking with some kids. Soon the students realized that I was just like them, and God kept on blessing me with new friends.

There were times when I felt depressed and angry because I couldn't change the way I was, or blame anyone for that matter. I went to Sunday School and learnt that God loves us all and that He cares for you. I understood that love to a point as a child, but I didn't understand that if God loved me why did He make me like this? Is it because I did something wrong? I thought I must have because out of all the kids at school, I'm the only weird one. I felt like I was a burden to those around me and the sooner I go, the better it'd be for everyone. I wanted to end my pain and end my life at a young age, but I am thankful once again, for my parents and family who were always there to comfort me and give me strength.

Due to my emotional struggles I had experienced with bullying, self esteem and loneliness, God has implanted a passion of sharing my story and experiences to help others cope with whatever challenge they have in their life and let God turn it into a blessing. To encourage and inspire others to live to their fullest potential and not let anything get in the way of accomplishing their hopes and dreams.

One of the first lessons that I have learnt was not to take things for granted. "And we know that in all things God works for the best for those who love Him." That verse spoke to my heart and convicted me to the point where that I know that there is no such thing as luck, chance or coincidence that these "bad" things happen in our life.

I had complete peace knowing that God won't let anything happen to us in our life unless He has a good purpose for it all. I completely gave my life to Christ at the age of fifteen after reading John 9. Jesus said that the reason the man was born blind was "so that the works of God may be revealed through Him." I truly believed that God would heal me so I could be a great testimony of His Awesome Power. Later on I was given the wisdom to understand that if we pray for something, if it's God's will, it'll happen in His time. If it's not God's will for it to happen, then I know that He has something better.

I now see that Glory revealed as He is using me just the way I am and in ways others can't be used.

I am now twenty- three years old and have completed a Bachelor of Commerce majoring in Financial Planning and Accounting. I am also a motivational speaker and love to go out and share my story and testimony wherever opportunities become available. I have developed talks to relate to and encourage students through topics that challenge today's teenagers. I am also a speaker in the corporate sector.

I have a passion for reaching out to youth and keep myself available for whatever God wants me to do, and wherever He leads, I follow I have many dreams and goals that I have set to achieve in my life. I want to become the best witness I can be of God's Love and Hope, to become an international inspirational speaker and be used as a vessel in both Christian and non-Christian venues. I want to become financially independent by the age of 25, through real estate investments, to modify a car for me to drive and to be interviewed and share my story on the "Oprah Winfrey Show"!

Writing several best-selling books has been one of my dreams and I hope to finish writing my first by the end of the year. It will be called "No Arms, No Legs, No Worries!"

I believe that if you have the desire and passion to do something, and if it's God's will, you will achieve it in good time. As humans, we continually put limits on ourselves for no reason at all! What's worse is putting limits on God who can do all things. We put God in a "box". The awesome thing about the Power of God, is that if we want to do something for God, instead of focusing on our capability, concentrate on our availability for we know that it is God through us and we can't do anything without Him. Once we make ourselves available for God's work, guess whose capabilities we rely on? God's!

May the Lord Bless you
In Christ,
Nick Vujicic