I have always had irrational fears. I have an outrageous imagination and was the sort of child that would put down cushions on the carpet to go to the toilet in the middle of the night in case the crocodiles came out from under the bed. As I got older, these fears turned into a fear of the dark and when I got married, I would hate to be left alone at night in the house. You might say that fears are an inevitable part of life; everyone has them but especially after I got ill, I began to realise that actually fear is not ok and we don't have to put up with it.

Having a chest drain was a very scary and painful experience. When it was put in, I felt like I couldn't breathe and it caught a nerve in my arm which made any movement unbearable. On their second attempt at this, when they took the drain out, my lung collapsed completely, which made me feel like I was having a heart attack. When they finally fixed it with surgery, as I'm sure you can imagine, I didn't ever want to go through that again!

When I came out of hospital, I had a very weak back from lying still so my muscles ached whenever I did anything new. Unfortunately, this back pain felt a lot like the beginnings of a lung collapse. Whenever I felt the slightest twinge in my back, fear would flood my mind and body until the pain went away or the painkillers crept in. As a Christian, I have never feared death; I know that I am going to heaven when I die but having to live with constant pain and not being able to breathe properly terrified me.

Now I knew in my head that I did not need to fear anything. The Bible says that perfect love casts out all fear. I knew God was looking after me and was going to heal me but it was still a constant battle.

One day, I just broke down in tears. Chris was there praying for me and he felt that God had put armour around my lungs. I felt a wave of peace as he prayed for me. From that point on, I knew I had to do something about this fear. I prayed and asked God to release me from all fear and to help me to stand on his truth and his promises for my life.

Over the next few weeks, I began to look in the Bible for God's promises on fear and healing. I found that the Bible was full them and the more I read and thought about them, the more they sank in and I began to truly believe them in my heart. Now when I felt fear, I could declare that by the stripes of Jesus I am healed (Isaiah 53:5) and I can cast all my anxieties onto him because he cares for me (1 Peter 5:7). I have no need to fear because God is with me and he will strengthen me (Isaiah 41:10).

I found that I now had a weapon against attacks of fear. Chris and my family were also great at reminding me of God's faithfulness in past situations. I almost died of pneumonia and yet I am still alive and getting better by the day. He was faithful then and he would be faithful again. He was, is and always will be bigger than my situation. Nothing is impossible for him.

Almost a year on, of course I still feel fear but it is getting less and less. I now know deep within that God is looking after me; he will completely heal me and he has a perfect plan for my future. Whenever fear comes my way, I can remind myself of all the amazing things he has done so far and the things he has promised for my future. As I told you in my last blog, I am now able to sing my way through any storm. I am still on a journey, but now, little by little, God replaces my fear with his joy. Happiness can be taken away from you with the ups and downs of life but the joy of the Lord lasts for ever. It gives me joy to know that God loves me and no matter what happens he will always be with me.