{"id":2196,"date":"2016-06-23T15:28:45","date_gmt":"2016-06-23T15:28:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/howgreatthoupart\/?p=2196"},"modified":"2016-06-23T15:28:45","modified_gmt":"2016-06-23T15:28:45","slug":"fear-equals-no-god","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/howgreatthoupart\/2016\/06\/fear-equals-no-god.html","title":{"rendered":"Fear Equals No God"},"content":{"rendered":"

I am chatting with my old college friend on the phone. As always, the names are changed to protect the innocent. I will call her ‘Dear Abby.’ <\/p>\n

Abby should have been a counselor. Who am I kidding? She is – she’s just the volunteer version. She’s loving, funny and open and as her husband jokes, “you could call her life story Abby.<\/strong>”<\/p>\n

It’s a fairly even distribution of her spilling her secrets to those she meets spilling theirs. <\/p>\n

Abby can tell I am happy again. And I am!<\/strong><\/p>\n

I tell her that I am not as afraid as I once was.<\/p>\n

“Fear equals no God,” says Abby.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Of course, we know this intellectually and spiritually, but I have never heard it so succinctly before. So dramatic that it is unforgettable.<\/p>\n

“I know,” I say. “It was just hard to not be afraid to start over and there’s been the stress of this neverending divorce.”<\/p>\n

After all, it’s not like most people are starting over at this age in life. <\/p>\n

I think if it was easier and not as scary a lot of people would attempt it. A lot of what I call the ‘half-happy’s.’ The people who have convinced themselves the grass is never greener, that a lot of spouses aren’t great to one another and so on. <\/p>\n

Abby is right. Fear does equal no God.<\/p>\n

I know. I lived with a type of fear I have never experienced in my life. I lived with a panic of not knowing what divorce game would come next. During that time I swore I had faith, but I had really given into fear. I had given into the bully.<\/p>\n

Fortunately, I found my way back. <\/p>\n

We all get lost and during that time – fear equals no God.<\/p>\n

Life is a complicated path; fortunately, when we do find our way back home – God equals no fear.<\/p>\n

And we are reminded that giving into that fear is fighting our purpose.<\/p>\n

\"pexels-photo\"<\/a><\/p>\n

(Photo courtesy of Pexels)<\/p>\n

Follow me on Facebook @Colleen Orme National Columnist
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\nE-mail: Colleen.Sheehy.Orme@gmail.com
\nwww.colleensheehyorme.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I am chatting with my old college friend on the phone. As always, the names are changed to protect the innocent. I will call her ‘Dear Abby.’ Abby should have been a counselor. Who am I kidding? She is – she’s just the volunteer version. 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