It was time to pop a Xanax- you know, just in case.  But as I reached deep into my purse to find the little, plastic bottle, a thought fluttered across my mind..”You’re doing great so far, why not wait until you need it?”

I considered the idea as I scanned the increasingly loud and crowded boarding area. “OK,” I decided with surprising ease, “I’ll wait.”

About an hour and 38,000 feet later, the drink cart rattled by my side. It was time for a glass of wine..again, just in case. But as I turned to smile at the flight attendant, another thought came to me.. “Cindy, you’re doing great..why not give God ALL the glory for this?”

I asked for a glass of water.

Anyone who knows me, knows how I have struggled for decades with a crippling fear of flying. And yet here I was, up in the sky, traveling during the busiest week of the year to visit our kids…and guess what?

It was fine.

No Xanax,

no alcohol

and it was totally fine..

I was completely fine.

As the plane began its descent, I turned to the last page of my Southern Living Magazine. There, the author had written about his favorite movie; Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. He had included one of its most memorable lines:

I hate to admit this, but the fear of flying is just one of the links in a long, heavy chain of stupid anxieties I have spent years creating and dragging around. Every one of these issues has in some way seriously inhibited my life. God’s message to me yesterday was a crystal clear:

Victory comes not in finding ways to alleviate the weight of my chain, but in finally breaking free from it. 

Here’s wishing you and yours a Happy Thanksgiving and a life that is truly

chain-free.