ARTICLE: FROM FEAR TO FAITH | Rajan T Abraham, Doha

Growing up in a small village on the bank of a river left with me vivid memories. During monsoon the river will turn wild and scary with overflowing muddy waters and strong currents. On such a day my father was crossing the river in a ferry boat on his way to a clinic.

As the boat reached almost the middle of the river, the boy suffering from epilepsy had a seizure and fell off into the river. People watched helplessly as the boy was going down. There were several people in the boat- young and healthy; no body dared to do anything.

My father who was older and not keeping well, dived in. Few moments passed… No sign of both. People thought that both were taken by the current. After few minutes, around two hundred meters downstream my father emerged, pulling the boy. The boy was breathing.

The next day when things got settled, I approached my father and asked him, ‘’ Why did you take such a risk and how did you get the courage?’’. Very casually he answered “I don’t know… that very moment God whispered to me, “dive in” and I couldn’t hesitate.

When crisis hits majority will run to shelters but few will show up. They will stand up… and they will stand out. They are the overcomers who are founded on the rock of Christ. “They don’t ‘conform to the world’ but respond to the call to be the light and salt. Solomon says in Proverb 25:10 “If you faint in the day of adversity, your strength is small”

The coronavirus global epidemic has changed every aspect of people’s lives around the world. How Christians can deal with this crisis?

1. Feed your faith and starve the fears.

The popular story of two dogs goes like this, “A terrible fight is going on inside me, between two dogs- one is ‘good’ the other is ‘bad’. Which one will win? The answer is – “the one I feed”.

Spend too much time watching TV and scrolling social media, you’ll end up feeding fear…instead, spend time reflecting on the faithfulness of God who has ‘helped us hitherto’, you’ll be feeding faith; the one that you feed will win.

Fear is contagious, so is faith; anxiety is contagious, so is hope. When so many are afraid today and looking for hope, be the one that inspires hope.

2. Discover yourself.

When you squeeze an orange, you’ll always get orange juice to come out. Squeeze lemon you’ll get lemon juice. What comes out is what’s inside. Under pressure you’ll manifest what you are. Allow adversity to discover who you really are. The message of the cross is that’ out of our brokenness we can be whole again and heal others’.

3. Reach out and touch others.

If you want to be happy for a lifetime help another person. This is a great opportunity to help other people. Don’t say “let me know if you need anything” think how you would have helped you if you were in the same circumstances and just do it. In reaching out and helping another, you too will be uplifted and helped.

God has not given us a spirit of fear. Fear is knocking at the door of our heart, so is faith. Which one will you open the door for? Fear may fill the whole world, but it doesn’t have to fill your heart.

Even when everybody else is afraid you put your hope in the risen Lord who conquered the world, and if you are a child of God you are carrying an unconquerable Spirit within you!
You’re a carrier, and you’re carrying something. Is what you’re carrying worth catching? Is your faith contagious?

Rajan T Abraham, Doha