Susie Davis - Unafraid: Trusting God in an Unsafe World

Susie Davis invites us into her own story with grace and hospitality, tenderness and courage. If youve ever been overwhelmed by fear, youll be so thankful for the way Susie takes you by the hand and leads you to a better way of living.

S HAUNA N IEQUIST , author of Bread & Wine

Dont pick up Unafraid if youre looking for a how-to manual. Instead, its an engrossing and epic true story that at once puts you at ease and challenges you to live more freely. Its unlike any Christian book Ive ever read. It was so crazy good that I got to the end and wished there were more.

H AYLEY M ORGAN , writer of thetinytwig.com

I am a Susie Davis fan! Susie speaks to my soul. She draws me from the shore of safety into the deeper waters of the Spirit. Unafraid will beckon you to begin with abandon a new journey with God. Susies soul is the inkwell, her heart is the quill, and her words are the invitation: fear not for the Lord is with you.

R ANDY P HILLIPS , lead pastor at LifeAustin Church and member of Phillips, Craig, and Dean

When we bow to the god of fear, we think we will be safe, but thats a lie. Our lives diminish as fear gains more ground. Having witnessed her beloved teachers murder, Susie Davis understands that bad things happen. Thats what makes her journey from paralyzing fear to trusting faith so compelling. I cant wait to give Unafraid to some of my clients.

L ESLIE V ERNICK , licensed counselor, relationship coach, speaker, and author of The Emotionally Destructive Marriage

Susie Davis offers a timely message of hope in a world that seems completely out of control. This book is a very personal and honest account of her experience with trauma and subsequent fears. She offers profound lessons of faith and trust based on her extraordinary story. It is truly an amazing God-story of redemption and hope.

D R . S AM A DAMS , psychologist and coauthor of Out of Control: Finding Peace for the Physically Exhausted and Spiritually Strung Out

Ive witnessed firsthand Susie Daviss incredible journey as shes learned to trust God in an unsafe world. Unafraid is the book Susie was born to write. Fears will be confronted. Chains will be broken. And multitudes of women will be set free to live their lives unafraid.

V ICKI C OURTNEY , author of Move On

U NAFRAID
P UBLISHED BY W ATER B ROOK P RESS
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Colorado Springs, Colorado 80921

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright 1996, 2004, 2007, 2013. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved. Scripture quotations marked ( ESV ) are taken from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, copyright 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Scripture quotations marked ( EXB ) are taken from The Expanded Bible, Copyright 2011 Thomas Nelson Inc. All rights reserved. Scripture quotations marked ( KJV ) are taken from the King James Version. Scripture quotations marked ( TLB ) are taken from The Living Bible, copyright 1971. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved. Scripture quotations marked ( MSG ) are taken from The Message by Eugene H. Peterson. Copyright 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group. All rights reserved. Scripture quotations marked ( NASB ) are taken from the New American Standard Bible. Copyright The Lockman Foundation 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995. Used by permission. (www.Lockman.org). Scripture quotations marked ( NET ) are from the NET Bible, copyright 19962006 by Biblical Studies Press LLC, www.bible.org. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Scripture quotations marked ( NIV ) are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version, NIV. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica Inc. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com. Scripture quotations marked ( WNT ) are taken from the Holy Bible, The Weymouth New Testament.

Details in some anecdotes and stories have been changed to protect the identities of the persons involved.

Trade Paperback ISBN 978-1-60142-639-0
eBook ISBN 978-1-60142-640-6

Copyright 2015 by Susie Davis

Cover design by Mark D. Ford

Published in association with the literary agency of The Fedd Agency Inc., P.O. Box 341973, Austin, TX 78734.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

Published in the United States by WaterBrook Multnomah, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House LLC, New York.

W ATER B ROOK and its deer colophon are registered trademarks of Penguin Random House LLC.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Davis, Susie, 1963
Unafraid : trusting God in an unsafe world / Susie Davis. First Edition.
pages cm
ISBN 978-1-60142-639-0 ISBN 978-1-60142-640-6 (electronic) 1. FearReligious aspectsChristianity. 2. Trust in GodChristianity. I. Title.
BV4908.5.D37 2015
248.4dc23
2014041572

v3.1

For my dad

Because trees really are the best preachers

At twelve years old I met Jesus. I adored him everything about him. When I read the Bible and it said God had good plans for me, I believed every word.

Then at fourteen I saw my teacher murdered. It was May, the end of junior high school, when a fellow classmate a neighbor boy walked into our classroom with a rifle and shot and killed my teacher.

God may have saved me, but the experience of witnessing a murder crashed in unexpectedly and made me afraid. So afraid that I felt as if I had lost God somehow or, even worse, that he had lost me. At fourteen I was forced to try to come to terms with this big, bad world we live in, and I was very fearful.

I loved God, but I did not trust him. Trusting God meant things might go wrong again, and I couldnt afford to let that happen because then I would feel all the pain again. The pain of bad things. And with the pain, the lingering question, why do bad things happen?

I spent half my life being afraid, and by that I mean scared to stay alone in my house at night. As a teenager, I was so freaked out by being alone I would hide under the kitchen counter with the phone on my ear, anxious about things in the dark and terrified by the neighbor boy still living up the street.

The weird thing about being afraid for a long time is that you get comfortable with it. And before long you start to believe fear itself keeps you safe and keeps bad things from happening. I felt like fear protected me. As long as I stayed vigilant, cautious, and wary, nothing bad would happen. Instead of depending on God for protection, I held tight to something destructive. Like an addict, I depended on something harmful and dangerous. Something that became a tool for the Enemy to push me in the corner, keep me under the counter, beat me down.