His Encouragement #249
Thursday Encouragement · Weekly Themed Posts

His Encouragement #249

Nicole Santana

Welcome to His Encouragement Thursday! I don’t know about you, but Thursdays are my struggle day of the week. By Thursday, I have already been working hard at school and at home, and I just wish it would hurry up and be Friday already. LOL! I definitely need a little extra Jesus time on Thursdays.

God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them. And as we live in God, our love grows more perfect. So we will not be afraid on the day of judgment, but we can face Him with confidence because we live like Jesus here in this world. Such love has no fear, because perfect love expels all fear. If we are afraid, it is for fear of punishment, and this shows that we have not fully experienced His perfect love. We love each other because He loved us first.

1 John 4:16b-19 (ESV)
Image from
YouVersion Bible App

This section from 1 John 4 always makes me uncomfortable. I get squirmy every single time I read these collection of verses. I don’t understand love. I never have. I didn’t not come from a warm, safe, loving environment where the love of Jesus was illustrated daily and everyone sang kumbaya. My home life was violent and loud and ugly. My parents did the best they could, but they disliked each other vehemently, so naturally ugly feelings and actions spilt over onto me and my brothers. Love…I just had no idea what that meant or looked like. I wonder if I truly understand it today.

As an adult, I chose to give my life, my very soul, to Christ. I have devoted countless hours to Bible study, prayer, and church time to show Jesus I’m His and I am serious about our relationship. But still, after all these years, I squirm when I read these verses on love.

It’s the phrase perfect love casts out fear that gets me. I also start to sweat when I read If we are afraid, it is for fear of punishment, and this shows that we have not fully experienced His perfect love. Here are my issues: 1.) I fight against fear literally every single day of my life; and 2.) Oh my goodness, have I not fully experienced Jesus’s perfect love? Is something broken inside of me that I just can’t experience His love? Why do I feel this way?

I have OCD. One way my OCD presents itself is via spiraling-out-of-control thoughts. My “benign-nothing thoughts” can go to “Oh my gosh, we’re all gonna die” thoughts in a single nano-second. I fixate on problems that could be. I get trapped in the small-picture moment, and then destroy any sense of peace I may have for the entire day. Over the years, I have found that my best coping mechanism is to say, “Nicole, take every thought captive to obey Christ RIGHT. THIS. SECOND.” And then I pray to Jesus and give Him whatever has made me lose control.

Why am I telling you this?

Because when I read there is no fear in love, but I still struggle with fear, I can’t help but worry that something is really wrong with me. Am I incapable of truly loving others? I do get really frustrated with people. That’s another one of my biggest struggles. And when I read that being afraid means I’ve still not experienced Jesus’s perfect love, I wonder if I ever will. I feel like these are really big-deal issues that I have to overcome, yet I still struggle. What is my deal?

I don’t have answers today. But I will keep on keeping on. When my OCD spirals out of control, I will STOP myself and take every thought captive to obey God. When people frustrate me and I don’t feel very loving, I will continue to take my struggles to Jesus and lay them at His feet. And when my fear rears its ugly head, I’ll open my Bible and study harder. I will trust in God’s love. I will have faith that even I, in all my glorious anxiety, am blessed by God’s unfailing love and compassion and grace. God’s love is so good and so big that as we live in His love (by studying His Word, praying, and growing in our relationship with Him) He grows us to be the men and women He wants us to be. God is seriously SO good!

Today I pray, dear reader, that if you are struggling with fear, anxiety, frustrations, anger, or anything else, that you will take it all to Jesus. That you will bask in the fact that as you work on your relationship with God, God works to make you exactly the man or woman He wants you to be. And that person is pretty darn amazing!

NOW, IT’S YOUR TURN!

WHAT BIBLICAL VERSE IS ENCOURAGING YOU TODAY?

Published by Nicole Santana

I love Jesus, my husband, and my daughter. I love reading and reviewing Christian and Clean fiction. And, I am a high school English teacher trying to get kids to fall in love with reading every day!

9 thoughts on “His Encouragement #249”

  1. Good post. This verse is encouraging me today: Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. (Mt 16:24)
    It tells me it’s okay to put off my own to-do list to help another person even if the other person is hard to love.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Thank you, Priscilla! I really appreciate the verse you have shared with me. And what great insight you have. I’m a HS teacher, so I am daily doing Mt 16:24 to the best of my ability. I’m only successful with God’s help though. Teens can be tough. 😀

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  2. Very encouraging post, Nicole! Thank you for keeping it real. I focused today on God’s being faithful and keeping His promises. Deuteronomy 7:9 says “He is the faithful God who keeps His covenant for a thousand generations. “ I am thankful that I am in a covenant relationship with the Lord.

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  3. I also grew up in a tumultuous home, with fear being deeply engrained. For me, I decided that Jesus’ love is imperfect. I am not. He wants my weakness to show His power and glory. That fact I’m able to love at all is a miracle of His grace. My fear hasn’t gone away, but it is much more manageable. On the days it overwhelms me, I remind myself that there are days when it doesn’t and hang on for a better day. I think Jesus is much more patient and forgiving than we give Him credit for and not nearly as hard on us as we are on ourselves. Just keep choosing Him. That’s all He wants. Thanks for reminding me.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Thank you so much for reading and replying to my post with your wonderful encouragement. I like how you say that Jesus is much more patient and forgiving than we give Him credit. I, too, think this. I also agree that He sees us differently than we do ourselves. When I make a mistake, it wrecks me. But I think, to Jesus, He just sees a mistake. Thank you for your kind words!

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