Fear

We all have fears don’t we? We fear for our kids. We fear for our health and the health of those we love. We fear we won’t have enough money to live on when we retire. We fear our spouse will leave us, or will die. We have fears about the direction of our nation. The list goes on and on. There are so, so many things to be fearful of that if we aren’t careful we can lose hope and live in desperation, just waiting on the next catastrophe. And yes, there will be a catastrophe that rocks our world.

I’ve been struggling with things to write about and decided to take a look at my past prayer and scripture journal and there on the second page I looked at was this verse:

And Jesus came to them and touched them and said, “Arise, and do not be afraid.” Matthew 17:7

Jesus spoke those words to 3 of his disciples after they had witnessed his transfiguration and seen Moses and Elijah. Can you imagine? In that particular instance their fears were not the same as ours, but those words can fit any situation we face. It’s a matter of trust. Trust that our creator has everything under control when it seems like we are in the eye of a hurricane.

Bad things happen in life and we all question how a God who loves us can allow such things to happen. I often have those same questions but if I dwell on that I can’t see all of the wonderful things that he allows too. I don’t know God’s plans but I do believe that they are perfect. I have to believe that in order to get out of bed each morning. I hope that you can too. I don’t mean to get into a deep theological discussion here but just to offer some peace and hope. Trust Him. On a couple of different occasions in my life when I felt like everything was crashing in and I couldn’t see anything but darkness I heard those words: “Trust Me”. It’s not always easy is it? We want to fix things that can’t always be fixed but He can. When you are going through unimagineable pain, grief, or fear I hope that you too can “trust Him”.

Our earthly life is only temporary. This pain is only temporary. I look forward to the day when

He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death of mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away. Revelation 21:4

I don’t usually make New Year’s resolutions, mainly because I don’t usually keep them but I will make 1 this year. It is to live with less fear and more trust. I hope that is yours too. I will leave you with a quote from Mother Teresa: “”Never let anything so fill you with sorrow as to make you forget the joy of the Christ risen”.

Have a blessed 2020.