Hello!
Welcome back to Dorie's Stories {devotional} Blog!!!
For this post, I wrote a brand new devotional story that will be featured in my upcoming book!
Let me start by saying that I love the beach. The beach is my happy place. I love sitting on the shore and watching the waves and I am a fan of boogie boarding. I do not, however, enjoy the deep places of the ocean or going beyond the crashing waves. I don't need to see where the big fish live.
I think a lot of people don't like the idea of sharks being in the water with them, but I truly do not want any animal in the water with me. This leads me to my devotional story about my fear/suspicion...of dolphins.
From a future chapter from my currently unnamed next book . . .
Chapter ?: Suspicious of Dolphins I’m terrified of sharks, but I’m also suspicious of dolphins. I feel like they look a lot like sharks. Just because the celebrity dolphin, Flipper, was nice in the tv shows does not mean there are not pockets of ferocious dolphins lurking in the ocean depths. People pretend to know what dolphins are saying and assume that all their high pitch squeaking are positive affirmations. I don’t buy it. Who knows if they are talking about their plan for some kind of massive uprising? I read somewhere that dolphins can kill sharks with their noses. Although I might like that fact if I am ever in shark-infested waters and there is a dolphin in the mix, but I think it should shock and slightly terrify us that dolphins possess that kind of nasal force. I have many irrational fears. Another is that I will get stuck in the blood pressure cuff machine at the grocery store. I would never put my arm in there. If that machine malfunctions, I don’t think anyone in the store is trained to know how to release it.
Spiders. I don’t think that this one is irrational. Spiders are real. They can also bite. And they can be poisonous. They don’t have to be poisonous or bite me, though. I am scared of them touching me at all… or just seeing one. I hadn’t been in a pet store for over 40 years because I saw a spider in one when I was five. One day when my kids were young and my husband was at work, I saw a spider on my wall in our apartment. I froze. Then, I panicked and got hysterical. I decided to call security. I told the man on the phone that there was a large spider in our home…”and we have children.” They sent someone up. When I opened the door, the security guy was standing there and he was holding a shovel! Then, he saw the spider…he killed it with his finger. Fears can paralyze us. They say you either have a flight, fight, or freeze response to fear. My husband likes to test this out. He pretends to steal my purse at the grocery store. I threw a can at his head before realizing it was him. He thinks that I am the “fight” one, at least when it comes to my purse. Sometimes fear isn’t something that jumps out at us, but something underlying, something that we have adopted as a way of life, something that can steal our joy and rob us of strength. Sometimes we choose to carry fear. Whether you are afraid of rogue dolphins, blood pressure machine malfunctions, knees (yes, that’s a real thing: genuphobia), or you have carried the fear of losing a job or losing a loved one, or a fear of getting audited or getting older, or a fear of failing or of succeeding, the Bible has true things to say about fear: “For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline.” 2 Timothy 1:7 NLT “The Lord is my light and my salvation— so why should I be afraid? The Lord is my fortress, protecting me from danger, so why should I tremble?” Psalms 27:1 NLT “Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:7 NLT “But when I am afraid, I will put my trust in you.” Psalms 56:3 NLT “I prayed to the Lord, and he answered me. He freed me from all my fears.” Psalms 34:4 NLT “Don’t be afraid, for I am with you. Don’t be discouraged, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you. I will hold you up with my victorious right hand.” Isaiah 41:10 NLT “The Lord is for me, so I will have no fear. What can mere people do to me?” Psalms 118:6 NLT I encourage you to choose a few of these verses to write out and put somewhere in your home that you will see them. Read them out loud to help yourself “fix your thoughts on things that are true” about fear. True things like: God has given us a spirit of power, love, and self-discipline. God is our light, salvation, and our fortress. God’s peace will guard our hearts and minds. God can free us from our fears. God is with us. God is for us.
Reflect & Journal: Do you have some crazy irrational fears? Make a list of some underlying fears that you have been carrying that you need to give to God. Which Scripture above stuck out the most to you? Put it somewhere you will see it!
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I hope you enjoyed the devotional excerpt! Feel free to share it with someone you think would enjoy a devotional story involving the fear of dolphin uprisings and what God says about the underlying fear we carry.
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With hope & joy, Dorie Mclemore
P.s. next time, I’m planning to post another devotional story excerpt from my book, Hope Looks Good on You! A Comedian's Joy-inducing Daily Devotional for Women. Make sure you are subscribed at the link above to get the notification in your inbox!
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P.p.s. I have had the incredible opportunity to connect with Kerrie Oles and Unlocked Ministries in a special way! Her ministry reaches out to women in prisons, halfway houses, and those in group homes who are survivors of domestic violence or sex trafficking to give them "Boxes of Hope." When I heard her story, I knew I needed to get involved. I gave her one of my devotional books and she felt they would make a great addition to their boxes of hope along with their Unlocked curriculum. If you would like to get involved by donating my devotional books to their ministry, please click on the box below: