– By Kimberly Morrison

For several years, one of our sons had a big fear of getting water in his eyes, nose, or ears. Bath time was like being waterboarded for him! He would happily play and splash in the bathwater until it came time to wash his hair. There are no words to describe how panicked and unreasonable he would get at that point.

The same fear also kept him from enjoying going to the pool, lake, or ocean. However, it seemed something about the water was always calling to him. After a few years passed, whenever we were at the pool or beach, we began to notice him starting to go deeper and deeper in the water on his own. He would get knocked down or inhale water, but something about the deep end of the pool or the ocean beyond the break of the waves kept drawing him in and he was determined to find out what it was.

Very quietly he would observe how others swam and try to copy their techniques. He was still afraid, but he was doing it! If Jared or I tried to coach him or give him instruction on how to swim, he would immediately shut down and revert back to being completely afraid. He knew that he alone needed to stare down that fear and ultimately conquer it.

He eventually did conquer that fear and is now our best and most adventurous swimmer! He actually scares Jared and I sometimes with the things he does or tries in the pool.

He still gets a little anxious and asks a ton of questions to help ease his mind about the body of water he’s about to jump into, but any anxiety he has instantly vanishes as soon as he sees the pool, lake, or ocean. In that moment he turns into this giddy, confident, smack-talking, and extroverted kid that we hardly ever get to see.

Over the last 8 years, we’ve felt a bit like our son, as we dipped our toes in the vast unknowns of living as a family on mission and now as we are preparing to move 8,000 miles away from everything we’ve ever known.

Fear has tried to come in with its lies to steal, paralyze, and poison the vision Father God is etching in our hearts, but we’ve already put our toes in the water. We aren’t promised that we’ll never be afraid. We’re promised a Comforter to help us to “do it afraid” and ultimately conquer the fear. We’ve come face to face with the deep satisfaction that only comes from laying our worries aside and pursuing the adventure set before us.

We’re still human so sometimes we’re doing it afraid, but we’re doing it.

To learn more about the Morrison family and their upcoming work in Uganda, and to find out how you can support them, click here.