Burning The Fear Of Fire

               As an adult,  for many years, I  was terrified of fire.   In
          the  days when one  could still have  a trash burner  in the back
          yard for burning trash,  I was so afraid of fire  that I couldn't
          strike a match to the trash, and couldn't even watch it burn when
          someone else lit it.  I would go inside and try to watch from the
          window, but couldn't even do that.   I guess I must have believed
          that if I couldn't see it, it wouldn't harm me.

               As time went by and I was alone for weeks  at a time, I knew
          I had  to burn the trash.  So I went to the Lord about it, talked
          it over with Him, and this is what He told me.

               He said that  something in my childhood had  caused the fear
          of  fire.  So with  His love and understanding, He  led me to the
          scenes  which  were the  reason for  my  fear.   We lived  in the
          country when I was growing up, and our house was only about three
          hundred feet  from the railroad  tracks.   And in between  was an
          empty field of tall  weeds during the summer months.   That field
          would catch fire and every time it did, my Dad would water as far
          as the hose  would reach, including the roof  of the house, while
          he waited for the fire department to  arrive.  At times, the fire
          would come right  to the edge of our yard, but was contained each
          time at that point. As a little kid, I just shook with fear until
          the fires were extinguished.  The Lord assured me that since I no
          longer have that  fire situation in my life, that I needed to put
          it aside, and be able to light a match to the trash.

               I was so thankful to the Lord for revealing to me the reason
          for my  fear, and then enabling me to  renew my mind, my thinking
          concerning  the  fear.     By  the  way,  no   counselor  and  no
          psychologist told me  that was what  I needed to do.   I knew  it
          only from the Lord.

          Helen.

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