Fear

Certain events haunt my life.  I should have seen the real decision I needed to make.  I could have seen beyond my horizons, understanding the bigger picture.  My logic should have started with an open position, not the preconceived framework I now see in hindsight.  The choices I made were often about yesterday or tomorrow, not the moment at hand.  I was rushing to a destination I did not see.  I was haunted by lessons I did not want to learn.
In the midst of my fears, I find myself coming back to two truths that I often fail to remember and apply.  First, it is impossible and at times wrong to try to limit the freedom of others.  We can only control ourselves.  Imposed fear rarely (if at all) motivates anyone for any length of time.  When “they (those in fear) called them back and warned them that they were on no account ever again to speak or teach in the name of Jesus,” (Acts 4.18) the desired action did not happen.
Second, life is not about the future or the past.  Life is about the moment at hand.  The present is the only place we can live.  We be caught in the past and find ourselves not living.  We can remain trapped by our future fears and find that we have failed to live.  Events in life can push us towards the past or the future, yet it is in the moment that one discovers what it means to be fully and completely alive.
Events do not need to haunt your life or mine.  We can learn from them and let go.  We can free ourselves from the control others are trying to impose on us.  We can exercise our freedom because it is at the heart of what living means. 
I find that my fear is greatest when I am uncertain.  I also find that God offers me a certainty found nowhere else.  I am always accepted.  I am always a member of Divinity's family.  I am always supported.   These are life certainties.