Faith over Fear

By Matthew Lemke

It can be easy to give up when we cannot find our purpose. Some of us may search and search, yet we struggle to find our God-given purpose due to the many roadblocks along the way. And for Matthew Lemke, declining health and a harrowing brain disorder would make his search all the more difficult. But little did he know that God had a huge plan for his life.

In Faith over Fear, author Matthew Lemke shares his journey to find that purpose and to pursue God's own heart. Diagnosed with a brain disorder called Arnold-Chiari malformation and a spinal cyst called syringomyelia that would leave him paralyzed, Matthew would face the biggest storm of his life as he endured brain surgery and fought to keep his condition from getting worse. Yet he would come out completely changed. And with God's help, he would pick himself up from rock bottom and learn to walk again.

We should never give up, no matter the odds. The odds were stacked against this man of faith, and he was faced with choosing faith over fear. But when we choose faith and become dependent on God's love and strength, he will prove himself in our times of need and show us our purpose.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Matthew Lemke
• Release date: Aug 25, 2022
• ISBN: 9780578952239

Matthew Lemke

Matthew Robert Lemke was raised in Charlotte, North Carolina, and was blessed to enjoy summers in Milwaukee and Wabeno, Wisconsin. Matthew is a disabled veteran from the First Cavalry Division of the United States Army. He wrote Monster Under My Bed as a high school senior and wanted his main character to be a person of color. “It’s important to show representation. If children don’t see themselves in the books they read or the movies they watch, they will not dream, grow, or achieve their goals.”

Book preview

Introduction

They say you will have a huge storm in your life that will test you with two roads to choose from. Should you accept fear or continue to fight in the storm? This book has been written so that you’ll see those storms and remember to fight no matter what. You must always fight because if I have learned anything in my twenty-five years it’s that there is always someone watching you: your kids, friends, spouse, neighbors, coworkers.  People are always going to take into consideration how you react because people can feel either inspiration or discouragement based on how they see you handle a situation, big or small, and that is especially applied to Christians today. Trust me when I say that, although it may not seem like it right now, God is right there during the storms. Never give up when things are feeling tough because that’s often when God is doing his biggest work. I have had quite a journey that I’m going to share with you...I’ll even share the stuff that I don’t always like to talk about.

There are two lessons I like to share with people before I tell them about my journey. We all have stories about things that have happened to us. Guess what, those stories are a true gift from God, no matter the size of the story. Maybe you’re thinking, Oh, my stories are nothing compared to that person or Why would anyone care about how I dealt with that small problem? Let’s just be honest here, you’re probably going to tell that story a thousand times. You might even tell it to a crowd of a hundred people. There is a good chance some of those people are probably not going to care or even be phased by that story. Do not get discouraged one bit when someone doesn’t care. There will be one person or, heck, maybe you’ll get twenty people whose lives will be changed forever. You have the power to change a perspective to a positive one, so please never stop sharing your stories. It’s called the butterfly effect, and it has the potential to change the whole world in God’s favor.

I’ve been asked several times, Well, Matthew, how do I go about sharing my story? At first, I had no idea how to answer that question at all. Until one night, something came to me while I was trying to sleep. Sometimes you’re trying to have a nice restful night, but God’s like, Wait a minute, son/daughter, I need to tell you something. And it’s our duty to listen! Our lives are like movies. It sounds crazy but, let me explain! In every good movie there is a main character, a supporting character, extras, and finally the movie script. In our own movie of life, God is our main character because we are supposed to follow his lead, and he deserves all the recognition. The supporting character is us because we matter for the movie, but we are not as important as the lead character. The extras are our jobs, finances, relationships, friends, and just about everything else. Again, they are important, but they are just the extras in our life movie. Finally, whenever we find ourselves slipping up, forgetting our lines, or forgetting where we are supposed to stand, we go to our movie script, which is the Bible!

When sharing your stories, don’t forget to remain humble because it’s very easy to take a gift for granted. This book is going to highlight my backstory in more detail, and you’ll read a few other random stories here and there along the way! Then you’ll see how I applied all these life lessons and experiences to the biggest storm of my life. I want you to hear these little stories so you get a better idea of who I am and what I’ve done in life. My goal is to show you how much God was preparing me for an insane walk with him. First, before I embark on this journey with you, do me a favor and open your Bible to Jeremiah 29:11. Read that verse, and never forget it because it might just save your life. I feel like if I had to sum up this whole book in one sentence that would be it.

Chapter 1

Slowly my eyes opened like I had slept and woken in a whole other century. It had felt like the longest nap of my life—you know that feeling when you take Benadryl and wake up the following morning, thinking to yourself How long have I slept, and where the heck am I?  But this time I woke up in a place not of my norm. There was a strange pressure on my face, and, looking down with my eyes, I found the oxygen mask. I wanted to reach up with my hands to take the mask off, but that turned out to be an impossible task. My vision was still a little blurry, and I fell back to sleep with no knowledge of what my future held. I was about to embark on a journey where I would have to throw out everything I had learned and start over. My test would be greater than I would ever know. Rock bottom is the worst feeling, but it turned out to be the best foundation to build on. Never forget that rock bottom is the end of your fall.

I was an awkward weirdo theater kid in middle school, and I mastered that role. Daily, my classmates would remind me that I was too nice, and this was the reason for my being so weird, which is weird, right? The ladies’ responses to my asking, Would you like to go to the winter ball with me? would be You’re too nice, which really made me struggle with discovering who I was. Too many times we try to find that happy medium of being ourselves but being accepted by our peers. Never forget that no matter where you end up in the scale of life, you should always pursue happiness for you. Do not change who you are at all to feel the acceptance of peers. That was probably the biggest mistake I would ever make. I remember when I got older I thought maintaining the self meant being stubborn and wearing the clothes I wanted and having my hair the way I wanted. What I’m trying to say is to never change your heart, but there is absolutely nothing wrong with changing your clothes or hair.

Growing up, I did not have many friends in my life, especially during my younger years in middle school. I’m sure you’re probably thinking, Man, this is a depressing book! but I promise you it gets better, so keep reading. I had one best friend whom I