Fighting Fear with Thanks

Every day we are faced with something that scares us, whether the small voice in our head that whispers doubt into our souls or the headlines that scroll relentlessly across the television screen broadcasting hatred, pain, and death.

We are now, probably more than ever, greatly and deeply aware of the evil that surrounds us and many of us, myself including, wish for different times. And add the responsibility of raising young, tender, impressionable hearts to the mixture and its a big 'ol pot of scary stew continuously simmering and threatening to boil over.

I am afraid.
I am afraid for myself.
I am afraid for my children.
I am afraid for my country.
I am afraid for the little boy down the street who isn't there anymore.
​I am afraid for the family I can't hold on to because they live too far away.

Fear threatens to cripple me and I wonder what it would have been like to be alive before. Maybe just a few decades back when terrorism was a distant idea and violence in schools was limited to the occasional fist fight.

But I am here.
I am here where God has placed me.
He has seen fit to put us, you and me, in this time.

​Perhaps He destined our year, our day, our hour, our moment of birth "for such a time as this." Praise God that He chose us to be messengers of His Word when it seems the world is most hostile. 

I pray that He will find me among the faithful. That in these moments my fear will be overcome with thanksgiving for His vision, His big picture, His masterful mural that places my tiny, insignificant life in this dark and uncertain age.

In these moments, at least for now, I can still praise God for the ability to talk and write and sing and speak freely about His love, His compassion, His justice, His salvation, and His glory.

And I choose to proclaim, "Thank you, Father, for my place in Your story!"

And it is then that I am suddenly able to find the most to be thankful for. I am able to sing praises that have nothing to do with my circumstances but everything to do with Him.  I lift my eyes from my feet, straighten my back, and stretch my gaze towards the heavens where there is nothing left to fear except My Lord.

Proverbs 14:26-27
In the fear of the LORD there is strong confidence, And his children will have refuge. The fear of the LORD is a fountain of life, That one may avoid the snares of death.

Malachi 4:2
"But for you who fear My name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings; and you will go forth and skip about like calves from the stall.

Esther 4:14
For if you keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father’s house will perish. And who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?”

Sincerely,