Hi ho, hi ho, it's off to Baltimore I go!

Tomorrow I'm getting on a plane in California at 6:00 AM (Is anyone up at that hour? Yikes) and crossing the entire country to the east coast, landing in Baltimore, MD. My plan is to spend two days doing research in and around the inner harbor area for my next series, Surrender to Destiny. All three books take place in Baltimore in 1812. On Thursday night, I'm picking up my hubby, who is flying in to join me and we are traveling to Annapolis to visit our daughter attending the Naval Academy. I'll be back in Baltimore Saturday night for the grand War of 1812 Reenactment at Fort McHenry! Very exciting. I hope to be taking lots of pictures and will post them here as soon as I can.

Allow me to share with you a brief list of some of my biggest fears: (I have more than these!)
1. Traveling by myself
2. Cockroaches
3. Public Speaking

Notice the first one. Yes, indeed, I am terrified of flying somewhere by myself, finding a rental car and trying to find my way in a strange city to my hotel. Even then, I'm afraid of going out and about in a strange city by myself. Yes, I know I'm a coward. Not at all like the heroines in my books, eh? LOL. Yet it seems God has been forcing me to face my biggest fears a lot lately (Well all except the cockroaches, thank goodness. I had enough of them in South Florida when I was growing up)

Fear is the opposite of faith, right? And without faith, it is impossible to please God, so when I am afraid, I'm not pleasing God, and that alone makes me want to desperately change. But how do we do that? Fear is not something we can control. I believe God wants us to face our fears and not cower before them. In other words, don't always take the easy road. Do the thing that scares you the most if you feel God leading you there. I think what you'll discover is that the thing you were frightened of the most is nothing at all in the face of an awesome, loving God.

What are you afraid of the most? What are your biggest fears? The death of a loved one, sickness, being alone, an accident, whatever they are, deal with each one individually by bringing them to God and asking yourself what if these things happened? What if? If you are the child of the one true and living God who is all powerful, all knowing and all loving, what if such and such happened. So what? Wouldn't God take care of it? Wouldn't He bring good out of it?

It's only when we are faced with our biggest fears that we discover if we really do believe in God and if we really do trust Him. Maybe that's why sometimes He allows us to confront our fears. He wants to show us that we can count on Him through thick and thin, through the good times and through the bad times.

For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline 2 Tim 1:7

So, tomorrow, I'm facing one of my biggest fears. But I know deep down I'm not alone and no matter what happens, I'm in God's capable hands. So, what are your biggest fears?