Controversy and fear-based thinking

I realize lately that I have been blogging about very controversial subjects.  I think that it is important to not take things for face value and to ask the appropriate questions to understand why and what is the meaning behind this?  If we don't ask the questions and have the understanding that we need to have, we will be pushed and pulled into decisions that we may not have made if we have the knowledge and empowerment to move forward into a decision.

It is time that we make bold steps and to make bold decisions for our lives and the lives of our family's. One thing that inhibits this boldness is fear.  So much of our medical system and our food/governing bodies in this country is based upon fear.

Why is it that 93% of women in Brazil opt to have C-sections and over 30% of women in America end up with C-sections?  Is it because of our faith in our bodies, in our ability to labor and deliver a healthy baby, or is it because we are afraid of the pain, afraid of the unknown, and afraid of what may or may not happen.

The weird thing about fear is that it tends to lead you in the direction that you do not want to go.  Fear tends to attract that very thing that you are afraid of and sometimes to conquer that fear, you must experience that pain, or that rejection, or that wound in order to overcome.

Are you in a prison of fear?

How many of my decisions day to day are based upon fear?  Do I even recognize fear or has it become such a part of my decisions that I just operate in fear and self-protection at every moment of every day.  Fear can be subtle, but fear is very dangerous to our health.  Most people who have this struggle of fear every day find it hard to live their dreams and to envision success.

Fear keeps us from envisioning even our health and the health of our children.  I remember that I used to struggle a lot with the fear of rejection.  It would keep me from meeting new people, from speaking my mind and my opinions, and from simply living and trying new things.  I was so sensitive from past "perceived" moments of rejection that I could not find the strength nor the faith to rise above it and to simply live.

I had to conquer it through attempting the things that I was most afraid of.  I remember having panic attacks in Italy because I was about to move home to Minnesota to start raising support to be a campus minister.  In my heart, I knew that I had to do it and that I wanted to make the sacrifice to help college students find faith in God.  However, I was scared out of my mind to raise the support that I needed to pursue my dream.

I read a book about pursuing your dreams without regards to money and that money will come and serve your passion.  This book helped me to step out in faith (the little that I had) and to start talking about what was on my heart.  After 6 months of talking to people, I had raised 70% of what I needed to start as a campus minister.  I decided to just go and believed that the rest would come.  It did and I lived for 5 years on support so that I could do ministry on campus and in South Africa with orphans.  It changed my life and prepared me for the challenges that I have faced in building my own business in the health field.

I had to conquer fear of rejection so that I could live in my purpose on earth, but I still have to reconquer it every day so that I can continue in faith instead of in fear.  Sometimes the only thing that we can do to conquer these fears is to put ourselves in the position to stare fear straight in the face and to say, "I am not going to let you control me and my decisions in my life, I am going to do it anyway and you are just going to have to bow down and leave me to live my life."

I hope that we can all do this.  Let's conquer our fears, get true and accurate information about our lives and our health, and not information that is twisted because of fear.  What decisions in your life are you making based on the fear of the unknown?  What new decisions can you make to face and conquer your fears?

I don't want to be afraid of my baby being unhealthy or having a horrible birth because I am envisioning my own defeat.  Rather, I want to envision my baby and myself as healthy and perfect and I believe that I will be creating (with God) my own successful birth and delivery.