Written by Deanne L.
Isaiah 41:10
“Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.”
As I contemplated what to write, several thoughts came to me, but this one seemed to shout “talk about fear”. In late October 2008, fear grabbed hold of me and drove me to the floor in an agonizing mess of heart wrenching pain. But it didn’t cripple me; not because of anything I did, but because of the faith I have in my loving Father God. Even as I cried out to God and asked “why”, I felt deep in my soul that God was in control. Over the next few years, many people asked me how I coped. I didn’t cope – I believed. I held fast to the promise from God to “fear thou not”. You see, while I am not naïve and I don’t live in a world where I believe bad things don’t happen, I am confident in the promise from God that he will be with me. As the scripture above says, He will strengthen me and He will uphold me.
This world is full of love, joy and happy times, but it is also full of pain, grief and horrible sin. Learning to walk through the pain and grief, and learning to live each day in a sinful world cannot be done living in fear. Instead, I choose to live with confidence in the promises in the Word of God.
If I were to let fear control me, I feel it would be the opposite of faith. So, I choose to accept that it is okay to have momentary fear and doubt, but it is not okay to let it control me. When fear creeps in, I thank God for his mercy and grace and have a conversation thanking Him for being adopted into His kingdom. I remember His words from Isaiah, “Fear thou not; for I am with thee. . .”