The Four Second Freak-Out

This is one of my goals in life—maybe even a step beyond that.

Let me explain myself.

Since our personal history and environment affects us so much, I will start with telling you something that happened during my youth.  When I was growing up, I lived in a family situation where freaking out was pretty common.  I remember one time that my dad (before he came to know Christ) was really going ballistic in traffic as we were stopped by road construction.  As we sat there, my dad’s anger, frustration, and language flowed rather fast and very strong.  I remember how that it was not a pretty sight.

Even though I knew Christ as Savior (later my dad came to know Him, too), the surrounding influences on me to allow circumstances to send me into fits of frustration and fretting were very strong because I had never been taught how to react to adverse circumstances in any other way.  When I would face situations going against me, although my reactions were pretty different than my dad’s, I would still tend to freak out also.  My freak-out sessions would linger sometimes for weeks. (You know….unrest, anxiety, frustration, anger…..those type things.)

I remember that the church I was attending then was full of precious people who loved Christ and they were dear to my heart, but they never taught me that the Lord had freed me from actions such as these in my life. I am not sure why they never did. Most of the messages that I remember had to do with stuff like “Don’t cuss, don’t chew, and don’t run with those who do!”  Plus there was a lot of preaching on hell, fire, and damnation along the way. I am sure that these things had their importance for me and others at the time, but I still wonder why my church family did not also teach me about my freedom in Christ.

But as I began to grow in the Lord and in the knowledge of the Bible, I began to discover truths that began to help me take control of my “freak outs”.

Truths like…

Galatians 2:20 NIV
I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. 
The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me 
and gave himself for me.

II Corinthians 5:17-18  (NASB)

Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed
away; behold, new things have come.  Now all  these things are from God……..

Proverbs 3:5-6 NASB

Trust in the LORD with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. 
In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He will make your paths straight.

                     “….do not lean on your own understanding…”

This part of the verse in Proverbs really explained my freak-out problem. I would lean on my own understanding every time I faced situations beyond my control.

No matter what else I may call it, this is what I am doing when I freak-out; leaning to my own understanding, education, strengths, and self.  I believe that this factuality applies to us all.

No matter our education, years of maturity, or how much Bible we know, Proverbs 3:5-6 indicates that our own understanding is flawed and inadequate. Yet, we find ourselves leaning on it way too often.

And even though I was learning these truths, it was still pretty difficult for me to focus on His peace when things would go wrong.

 I sometimes still struggle with that today…as some of you also do occasionally I’m sure.

However, over the years, I began to see that these Bible truths were to be made active in my life by claiming them through faith.

          (Faith – another blog, another day)

That is, I needed to believe what God said about my new life in Christ in these verses, and begin to live that way.

Over time I began to see a change in myself.  As I would consciously believe and trust the Lord’s promises, my freak-outs were beginning to take on a new face.  (I was growing in the Lord.)

In the beginning, I might would freak-out for several weeks over an issue that was troubling me.

As I grew and matured in the Lord (and in His truth) those freak-out times tended to be reduced to a much shorter time – maybe four days…sometimes.

As things went along, it seemed that I would remember God’s promises and His Word a little sooner every time a freak-out opportunity arose.  Times of quality freak-out were beginning to be less and less….closer to the four hour mark.

Now–a-days, I hover between the four hour and the four minute mark (just ask those I work with).  But I am not content with that.  Freaking-out hurts.  It hurts me mentally, physically, and spiritually.  You see, when I freak-out, it is making a very bold statement that I am just not trusting the Lord very much, and that I am leaning on my own understanding a lot. Leaning on my own understanding gets in the way of acknowledging Him in all my ways, and it blinds me to seeing the path He wants for me.

Ouch!

Now, my goal is that when the freak-out begins, I consciously want to bring my belief and trust in the Lord online much more quickly.

I am working toward the four second mark on my freak-outs.

The four second freak-out…..  Sounds good doesn’t it?

I know, I know.  You ask, “Wouldn’t it be better to not freak-out at all?”

Of course it would.  And if you are like a few of my Christian friends (including my spouse), you just trust the Lord so much that you don’t freak out at all. I love people like that and enjoy hanging out with them. These people are my heroes, and I want to grow in my trust in the Lord up to where their level is.

(In fact, when I am with these people and something freak-outable 

happens, I sometimes get the urge to say to them, “Don’t worry, I got it 

all covered! You just relax. I’m really good at this and I will take care of

the freaking-out for us both!”)

Am I getting there?

Well, yeah…sort of.  I am in that constant process of trusting the Lord more and more in my everyday living, and as I do trust Him, I have less and less freak-out time going on in my life.

But when I do slip up and freak-out, I want it to last no more than four seconds until I remember the Lord’s promises and actually, by faith, quietly trust in Him.

And who knows, I may someday become like my Christian friends, and even break the zero second mark.

Just quietly trusting the Lord no matter what…….

Philippians 4:6-7 GW

          Never worry about anything. But in every situation let God know what you need in prayers and requests while giving thanks.

          Then God's peace, which goes beyond anything we can imagine, will guard your thoughts and emotions through Christ Jesus.

Love Ya,

Dan