How many of us are insecure about some areas of our lives? Lots. How many of us are insecure about almost all areas of our lives? Lots. Fear of the unknown holds us back. Fear of how people will react toward us prevents us from doing some monumental things. Fear cripples us. We must forge ahead, through the fear, through the reactions of those that judge us. I have been chained up for years, like a dog tied to his dog house. The dog can only go so far and then goes back to his house. The dog sometimes gets excited when a car goes by or he sees something he'd like to check out that is beyond the length of his chain. He goes for it. He runs forward and is abruptly halted when the slack in the chain is gone. The chain is pulled tight and sometimes the dog keeps trying to plunge ahead. It's all to no avail though. At the end of the day, the dog is still tied.

It is amazing to me that I have been chained all this time, and then come to realize I have had the power to get out of the chains throughout these years. The key to the handcuffs was hidden in a safe place the whole time. It was even within my reach. I just forgot that I had the power to use the key. It is kind of like Dorothy in 'The Wizard of Oz'. After all her trials and persucutions, her struggles to go home, the good witch tells Dorothy,"Click your heels together three times and say There's no place like home." She then tells Dorothy that she has had the power to go home the whole time. Dorothy asks the good witch why she hadn't told her that before. The good witch then replies, "You wouldn't have believed me."

Sometimes it is because of our insecurities that we have to learn things the hard way. People may say nice things to us. They may speak words of encouragement, but it is hard to grasp what people are saying. It's like when you're between sleep and being awake and someone tells you something. You heard a mumbling. You know they said something to you, but, for the life of you, you can't figure out what they just said. We struggle. We pull the chain tight. we face the wicked witches and the man behind the curtain who made us believe he was a wizard. Then we remember, "Oh yeah, I've got the key to get out of this." I have insecurities. Lots of them. But I am moving on.