“Who is the man who fears the LORD? Him will he instruct in the way that he should choose. His soul shall abide in well-being, and his offspring shall inherit the land. The friendship of the Lord is for those who fear him, and he makes known to them his covenant. My eyes are ever toward the LORD for he will pluck my feet out of the net.” (Psalm 25:12-15, ESV)

When we fear the Lord, we experience His friendship. When we experience His friendship, we begin to flourish. 

If I am being honest, the last couple years of my life have been so full. On the outside, you’d say I was thriving, maybe even flourishing. By the grace of God, I graduated with my Masters of Arts in Counseling and started my dream job at Daystar Counseling Ministries working with adolescent girls. I moved right outside of Nashville, Tennessee, my husband and I were traveling every weekend, I was getting to see my family in Louisiana every two to three weeks, it was great…and hard. On the outside, you couldn’t see the hard part. The good part was seen. The hard part was felt. 

I quickly found myself striving to prove myself in my job, ignoring the insecurities that were slowly beginning to surface, and filling my mind with distractions to numb all of the stress and anxiety. I was lonely because I missed my friends and family. I was so busy I couldn’t see straight. And you best believe I was eating out more than I ever imagined because meal prepping isn’t a thing when you are gone every weekend and get back in town Sunday night. Internally, I was craving the intimacy I once felt with God, I was longing to experience pure joy and passion for His Word, and I was desperately seeking to have a deeper understanding of who He is and what He was calling me to do. I was stressed, anxious, overwhelmed, and longing for something so much deeper than what was on the surface of my life. 

However, for some reason, that longing remained a longing. I wondered for a while why that had been the case. Why hadn’t this longing turned into action? Why hadn’t this desire birthed something deep within me? The truth is, the soil of my soul had become very very dry over time. There had been little watering, so not many good things were taking root and springing to life. I was reading the Word daily, but I wasn’t sitting long enough to let it soak in and revive me. I was getting a full night’s rest, but I was never actually resting. I was showing up for my job, but I was consumed with the fear of failure and the lie that I wasn’t good enough. I was so caught up in the busyness of my life, that I lost sight of the purpose of my life: to be a living sacrifice for the Lord.

On the outside, my life was “flourishing,” but my soul was not. And if I’m being totally honest, it was an illusion that my life was flourishing. My life was good and full, but I slowly allowed other destructive beliefs and distractions to take root: idol of busyness, lies and insecurities, fear of failure, fear of not having control, fear of man, fear of…you name it…I had it. 

Fear paralyzed me. It consumed me, and prevented my soul from truly flourishing because I had mistakenly become friends with it. 

Last year, I had had enough of not feeling like myself. I lost my passion, my boldness, and my deep joy. I was tired of allowing fear to consume me and distract me from God’s calling on my life. So, I decided it was time I surrender it. Over the course of the year, I relearned what it meant to fear the Lord instead of fearing man. I started going to my own personal counseling, I prioritized journaling, I redefined what worship looked like for me, and I started being honest with myself and God. It wasn’t easy, but the outcome was worth it. 

It wasn’t until I released the fear of man and learned what it meant to fear the Lord, that I began to experience my soul flourishing. My mind and soul started being renewed by Truth, peace, joy, and a deep love for God again. The longings I had were finally matched with action because there was a new hope within my soul. 

In learning to fear the Lord, my friendship with Him was birthed. My soul felt peace again. My mind cleared and I started writing again. Reading the Bible didn’t feel rushed anymore, and His Word began sinking deep within. Anxiety stopped paralyzing me once I released what I had been gripping so tightly: fear. 

For too long, I was consumed by the wrong kind of fear. Instead of falling at the feet of Jesus, fearing His holy name in an awestruck and reverent type of way, I was tangled up in the fear that distracts, defeats, and destroys our minds and souls. When I finally released it, I experienced something new. 

We all have that “thing” we squeeze so tightly that prevents us from wholeheartedly fearing the Lord and experiencing deep friendship with Him. It’s not until we release it and rest in Him that we are able to flourish. If I have learned anything in the last year, it is this: In the release, we experience freedom, friendship with God, and a soul-kind of flourishing that makes life full of joy and peace. 

I’ll be the first to say, life can be so hard at times. It is easier than ever to grow distracted by our circumstances, good and bad. It’s often in the distraction of our circumstances that we lose sight of what it means to fear the Lord…At least that is how it’s been for me. Yet, we must learn to be honest with ourselves, release what is in our closed fists, and recenter our gaze on the Lord — daily. It isn’t a one time fix all approach. We are saved once, we are sanctified daily. It is in the sanctification that our friendship with the Lord deepens and our lives flourish. 

We can trust that God’s Word is true. Psalm 25:12-15 has become an anchoring passage for me:

“Who is the man who fears the LORD? Him will he instruct in the way that he should choose. His soul shall abide in well-being, and his offspring shall inherit the land. The friendship of the Lord is for those who fear him, and he makes known to them his covenant. My eyes are ever toward the LORD for he will pluck my feet out of the net.” 

When we fear the Lord, He promises to instruct our way. When we rest in who He is, our soul abides in well-being—it flourishes. We experience friendship with the Lord when we fear His name, and He makes His covenant known to us. When our gaze is fixed on Him, he plucks us out of the net we are tangled in. He is a faithful God. May we fear Him wholeheartedly and begin to truly flourish in the way He originally designed our souls to.   

What is it in your life that prevents you from fearing the Lord? What would it look like for you to release it, and recenter your gaze on the holiness of God in reverent fear of His name?

Blair is a wife, counselor, and writer. She spends most of her days working at Daystar Counseling Ministries counseling girls of all ages, surrounded by the cutest therapy dogs and the smell of popcorn popping in the kitchen. She is passionate about walking alongside girls and young women as they learn what it means to be rooted in Christ and confidently walk in the specific calling God has placed on their life. Her favorite things are cozy mornings by a fire, coffee shops, traveling to new places, hosting friends, and going on walks. Keep up with Blair on Instagram @blairkwest and @_replanted_ !