A Prayer for Strength to Face Fear

Father, fear has its hand around my heart tonight. My thoughts run to the worst, my stomach is in knots, and the thing I am dreading looms larger every time I look at it. I am tired of being afraid.

I confess I have let fear make my decisions, shrinking my life to avoid what scares me, and calling it caution. The fear has grown bigger because I keep feeding it.

So I turn to You, the One who has not given me a spirit of fear. I am not asking You to remove every danger. I am asking You to be bigger than what frightens me.

Quiet the racing of my heart. Steady my breathing. Walk with me into the very thing I am avoiding, and let me feel Your presence stronger than the dread.

You told me not to fear, for You are with me, and not to be dismayed, for You are my God who strengthens me and holds me up with Your righteous right hand.

I will face this with my hand in Yours, and I will find that courage is not the absence of fear but the presence of You. Amen.