I am a great fan of Henri Nouwan.....what he has written makes sense to me...this was something I found in my inbox today:

Keeping It Together

How can we not lose our souls when everything and everybody pulls us in the most different directions?  How can we "keep it together" when we are constantly torn apart?   

Jesus says:  "Not a hair of your head will be lost.  Your perseverance will win you your lives" (Luke 21:18-19).  We can only survive our world when we trust that God knows us more intimately than we know ourselves.  We can only keep it together when we believe that God holds us together.  We can only win our lives when we remain faithful to the truth that every little part of us, yes, every hair, is completely safe in the divine embrace of our Lord.  To say it differently:  When we keep living a spiritual life, we have nothing to be afraid of.

- Henri J. M. Nouwen

If we follow God's lead, trust in Him, love Him,  we have nothing to be afraid of.  Fear alone is destructive.  Faith alone goes nowhere.  But when we have faith in God AND are willing to work on what we are afraid of, then the fear disappears.

I used to be afraid of a lot of things....as my faith in God grew and as I learned to listen to the still soft voice and do what it directed me to do,  I became less and less afraid.  I still have fears but what fears I have do not incapacitate me any more.  I try hard to turn these fears into challenges and then figure out a plan to conquer them.  Sometimes I am successful, sometimes I have to regroup and try again but God is always with me.

Reading this devotion today reminded me that I don't have to be afraid any more....I can choose God or I can choose fear.   My choice is God.