Hallie Lord - On the Other Side of Fear: How I Found Peace

I think all women struggle with fear on some level. We lose that carefree part of our spirit as we realize how precious and fragile life can be. With her relatable, humorous, and warm writing style, Hallie Lord manages to encourage, challenge, and, most importantly, make you feel normal. Pick this book up today and get ready for a fun ride. You will find yourself nodding your head, laughing out loud, and breathing a big sigh of relief that its all going to be okay.

Melanie Shankle, New York Times best-selling author of Nobodys Cuter Than You

The deeply personal stories Hallie Lord shares are humorous, fun, and delightful yet packed with jaw-dropping insights. It is not an exaggeration to say that this book will change your life.

Jennifer Fulwiler, SiriusXM radio host and bestselling author of Something Other than God

Hallie Lord is a gifted and graceful writer whose wisdom is hard-won and all the more compelling as a result. For women struggling to replace fear with faith, this intimate, funny, and poignant account of Hallies own struggle offers a road map toward peace, from an author who feels like a friend.

Colleen Carroll Campbell, journalist, former presidential speechwriter, and author of My Sisters the Saints: A Spiritual Memoir and The New Faithful: Why Young Adults Are Embracing Christian Orthodoxy

Jesus said, Be not afraid. St. John Paul II said, Be not afraid. But Im afraid to say I still have lots of fears in life. After reading this book, Hallie Lord will be the third voice in my head reminding me to be not afraid and to trust in God. Thanks Jesus, JPII, and Hallie!

Lino Rulli, host of The Catholic Guy show on SiriusXM Satellite Radio

Hallie Lord goes toe-to-toe with fear and provides a witty and fearless response in the face of such challenges today. On the Other Side of Fear: How I Found Peace is a remarkably truthful book that not only encourages us but also illuminates the sources behind many fears today in order to root them out and live fearlessly in and with Christ.

Leah Darrow, author of Decent Exposure and former model on Americas Next Top Model

In a culture awash (and adrift) in marginally helpful self-help books, Hallie Lord truly has launched into the deep with this worthy book. It brims with practical advice and gracious personal encouragement for all who (like all of us) struggle at times with fear and discouragement.

Patrick Madrid, radio host

Do not fear; only believe (Lk 8:50). When we hear these words of Jesus, we may well reply, Yes, Lord but how? In this wise and witty book, Hallie Lord offers penetrating, practical insights from years of struggle with fear in its various forms. In the end, her personal victories over anxiety powerfully illustrate the biblical truth that there is no fear in love (1 Jn 4:18).

Paul Thigpen, author of Manual for Spiritual Warfare

The Bible is filled with encouragement to not be afraid. Its the first command of every angel and the first words spoken by Jesus on Easter. Yet how hard it is! In this wonderfully uplifting book, Hallie Lord shows us how to tap into the strong confidence of faith to conquer our daily concerns. She doesnt ignore fear, which can never be banished, but confronts it and reveals how we can loosen its grip. Vulnerable, poignant, and inspiring, this is the book you need if youve ever been worried or unsure about life.

Brandon Vogt, author of Return: How to Draw Your Child Back to the Church

On the Other Side of Fear

How I Found Peace

On the Other Side of Fear

How I Found P eace

Hallie Lord

Our
Sunday
Visitor

www.osv.com

Our Sunday Visitor Publishing Division

Our Sunday Visitor, Inc.

Huntington, Indiana 46750

Scripture quotations are from the Revised Standard Version of the Bible Second Catholic Edition (Ignatius Edition), copyright 2006 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Quotations from papal and other Vatican-generated documents available on vatican.va are copyright Libreria Editrice Vaticana.

Every reasonable effort has been made to determine copyright holders of excerpted materials and to secure permissions as needed. If any copyrighted materials have been inadvertently used in this work without proper credit being given in one form or another, please notify Our Sunday Visitor in writing so that future printings of this work may be corrected accordingly.

Copyright 2016 by Hallie Lord. Published 2016.

21 20 19 18 17 16 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

All rights reserved. With the exception of short excerpts for critical reviews, no part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means whatsoever without permission from the publisher. For more information, visit: www.osv.com/permissions.

Our Sunday Visitor Publishing Division, Our Sunday Visitor, Inc., 200 Noll Plaza, Huntington, IN 46750; 1-800-348-2440.

ISBN: 978-1-61278-966-8 (Inventory No. T1730)
eISBN: 978-1-61278-972-9
LCCN: 2016945383

Cover design: Lindsey Riesen
Cover art: Shutterstock

Printed in the United States of America

To Dan, who kept telling me that we had nothing to fear even if we ended up living under a bridge because we have each other and because God will never abandon us. I laughed, but now I believe. Thank you, my love.

And to my Opa, who taught me the value of courage every time he challenged me to undertake a Feat of Bravery. I miss you.

What if I fall?
Oh, but my darling,
what if you fly?
e.h.

Contents

Introduction

When I was thirty-six weeks pregnant with my fifth child, a little girl we named Zelie Olive, my husband walked through the back door of our cottage by the sea as I was cleaning the lunch dishes, with comments about getting off work early that day quick to his lips. He ushered me to bed so that I could nap, but sleep proved elusive. I knew, the way husbands and wives just know after having been married for almost a decade, that there was something he wasnt telling me.

Later that night, after our little ones were tucked soundly into their beds, sandy traces of the salty sea still sticking to their toes, he sat me down and broke the news. Earlier that day he had been laid off, effective immediately. His company, he explained, had become the latest victim of the financial crisis that had hit the Gulf Coast as a result of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. We were left with two weeks severance pay and less than a month of insurance to our name.

I spent the last weeks of my pregnancy curled up in a ball on our living room couch. My children took turns cuddling up with me, releasing the silly things that had been dancing in their heads into my ear, and kissing their newest sibling as she rolled and stretched beneath my ribs. My sweet husband brought me food, rubbed my feet, and assured me that we would be fine. Friends and family visited and poured love into our family in myriad ways as the summer grew later and hotter.

It was a beautiful, life-giving, love-rich time, but I barely experienced any of it. I had locked myself away in a dungeon of fear and anxiety, where my only companions were vivid worst-case scenarios that played in my head on repeat. I closed my eyes against the rays of light that attempted to break through the small prison window and silenced the voices that were calling out to me with words of comfort and reassurance.