Blog Post by Stephanie Blake
Tracy experienced a big victory in his big life recently. He may be 5 years old but his life speaks loudly! Here is his story:
Since potty-training age, he’s been terrified of going #2 on the potty. Like…terrified! No amount of bribes, prizes, rewards, praise, encouragement, charts or conversations would change his mind. And then there was the time to time frustrated mom and dad, toy time out, irritating schemes and ideas. Nothing worked. We tried literally…everything, except prayer. One day, his Daddy quietly committed to pray every single day for him. Specific prayers. A couple of weeks later, God inspired me to pray into his spirit every night. I used a tiny, yet profound, devotional (Daily Spirit Blessings, we obtained from our dear friend’s, Don & Jan Hicks ministry, Christians United Ministries) and began to bless him in 2 specific ways: one with the ability to trust God and one calling his spirit to come out of hiding. We realized that we’d been trying to combat this huge, daunting fear with our small, weak, fleshly ideas. You can’t reason with fear. You can’t convince it or praise it out of you… or anyone else. Its only job is to cripple and to keep you from trusting your Father.
Almost 2 months went by. Then one week, I noticed Tracy stopped asking for his usual method of going #2….a pull-up. I asked him if he’d like to sit on the potty and he actually, though fear-filled, said yes. You could see something was different in him…he was making steps of bravery in the middle of his fear instead of standing still. He did this for 2 full days. Repeated visits to the potty, lots of tears and even real grief over leaving his pull-ups behind.
There were 2 profound things he said in the midst of his journey. Through tears he said:
- “I know Daddy believes in me, but I don’t believe in myself.”
- “I know you (Mommy) are proud of me, but I’m not proud of myself.
I knew in the moments that he spoke these things, he was speaking what ALL of us say to the Lord when we are plagued with the fear of overcoming something.Those words were the actual fears speaking. They were saying what we all think, young and old:
- We don’t believe that God is proud of us.
- We don’t believe God believes in us.
- Or that He can be trusted to move on our behalf and walk us through our fears.
We believe we are stuck in the struggle, never to overcome and that we are alone in it. Tracy overcame his fear. It wasn’t without tears. It wasn’t easy. But I truly believe that his spirit responded to the call from his Daddy & Mommy and from his Abba father. This experience was not only for Tracy but a lesson for our family. We were reminded that when we continue to go around a mountain that doesn’t move, it’s time to step back and take a moment to realize that what we are dealing with is something spiritual …something that can never be overcome with willpower or enough good intentions or grit. We were also shown that we all struggle with the same core fears, no matter what age: that God (Daddy) is not pleased with us, that He cannot be trusted, that we are alone to fight our battles, and that we must hide. This is the central, most concentrated area that the devil works in overtime in our hearts. But when the Truth comes…oh, it’s so, so sweet. When you finally let the love of your Father in, He turns all those lies on their heads. When the One who has always been there for you gets invited into your place of hiding…He takes your tears and not only dries them but places them lovingly in His alabaster jar. And He tells you He’s proud of you…and you believe Him. And you love that He chased after you. And then you let go. And its freedom and it’s love and it’s the joy of being delighted in at its finest.
We will never forget this lesson that was given as a gift through Tracy Wyatt. It speaks for all mankind. It’s the mystery revealed. Even in its simplicity of a little boy fighting to go #2 on the potty. 🦋
Prayer
Abba, we come before you and confess our own fears and we invite you in with your perfect love to cast them out. You have not given us a spirit of fear but of love, power and a sound mind. Thank you that in our fears we can turn to you and find freedom. Just like Tracy did. Thank you God for his story, let it impact many. In Jesus name. AMEN.
When you find that you are facing fears that are beyond what you feel can handle alone, please contact us. We have Certified Prayer Ministers that here for you. We also have Jan Hick’s Crossing2Freedom book, Blessing Your Spirit by Sylvia Gunter, and other materials.
www.cumi.live| P.O. Box 743 Foley, AL 36535
Office Phone: 251.241.9899 | Counseling: 774.567.o771
