Tag: fear

Categories
PWTE Daily Devotion

He is the Way

By Pastor Steve Nickodemus

Trust in the Lord…

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.  In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.”
Proverbs 3:5-6 English Standard Version

Have you ever been confronted with a life changing, scary, confusing piece of news?  The news can take many different forms: Cancer, heart attack, war, crash, betrayal, violence, pain, murder, bankruptcy, hospice, death.  The announcement of what has just happened rocks you to your very core.  The reality of the crisis can leave you feeling numb or paralyzed or full of aching sadness and indescribable hurt and grief.

Many years ago a dear friend and Christian teacher was diagnosed with severe, advance cancer.  In the midst of the shock and trauma, Betty did what she had learned to do in every difficult situation – pray.  At the same time she heard the news and began praying, her dear mother began praying for her.

When the two women contacted each other the next day, the Lord had given them both the same Bible verse, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.  In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.”    Over the next days and weeks and months these two women again and again actively trusted in the Lord, not trying to understand why this cancer had happened, but leaning on God’s mercy and peace in Jesus Christ.  Many were encouraged to pray these two verses and trust in the Lord.

When Betty died some months later, many of us wore T-shirts inscribed with these Bible verses.  We had all lived through this situation by trusting in the Lord’s wisdom and comfort.  We took the attitude of children, not questioning the circumstances, but leaning on Jesus.

Are you in a terrible, terrifying crisis?  Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding.  No matter where the path of life may take you, trust in Jesus.  For Jesus not only is directing our way, he is our way.  We trust in his unfailing love no matter what the outcome may be.  Amen.

Copyright Family of Christ Lutheran Church Colorado Springs, Colorado

Categories
PWTE Daily Devotion

Poison Ivy

By Katy Mariotti

Do Not Be Afraid

“do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”
Philippians 4:6-7, English Standard Version

Lately there has been a commercial on tv showing a man with poison ivy itching at his painful blisters.  Upon seeing this commercial my husband commented on how awful it was when he got poison ivy once.  These two things combined made my young son very curious about poison ivy and poison oak, and I taught him the saying “leaves of three, let it be.”  Well, I underestimated how many plants that are NOT poison ivy have sets of three leaves.  He came to me in tears, convinced that he had found poison ivy growing in our back yard. Since I was busy in the kitchen, I had him go take a picture so we could try to identify the plant.

At his impressionable age, scary thoughts and images stick with him a lot.  They’re especially bad at night, when he’s trying to fall asleep and the negative thoughts swim in his head: an image he saw on the news, or fear of natural disasters.  I can blame his age, but don’t we adults do the same?  We could spend our whole lives worrying about all the scary things there are.  Illness, loss of loved ones, car accidents, tragedy, war, drugs, poverty… it’s a never-ending list.

God knows this.  There are SO many verses in the Bible that say “do not be afraid.”  I like this one from Philippians, though, because it gives us something to do with our fear: pray.  Make our requests known the the Lord.  And the next verse is my favorite: let the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, guard our hearts and our minds.  God wants us to come to Him and tell Him our fears, and at the same time He promises to guard our hearts and minds with His peace.  I especially like the part that says “surpasses all understanding.”  With all there is to be scared of in the world, we can still have peace.  We don’t have to understand why bad things happen and we don’t have to understand how we can still feel peace despite that.  What a precious gift that is!

I pray God’s peace for all of us today!

Copyright Family of Christ Lutheran Church, Colorado Springs, Colorado

Categories
PWTE Daily Devotion

Just Breathe

by Pastor Mark Moreno

God Has Got You!

One time when I was in Africa, I had the first and only panic attack of my life. I remember it pretty vividly: I was walking down a flight of stairs and my eyes were adjusting from walking out of a building. It was blazing hot and I could see the caked dirt below and hear the sound of my feet going down each step. I think I was light headed as well!

Then this feeling swept over me and I kept repeating the phrase, “I’ve got to get outta here” in my head. I felt a tightness in my chest and I remember thinking, “Just breathe”. The moment passed and I felt so much better. But even in the midst of that attack, it was all emotion, I remember thinking how irrational the whole thing was. But that didn’t matter. What mattered in that moment was the overwhelming feeling.

Have you had a moment like that? A moment where you felt like you just had to get out of the situation or place you were in? There is a Psalm about that! Psalm 46 begins:

“God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.Therefore we will not fear though the earth give way, though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble at its swelling.”

That Psalm seems to have been written on a pretty hard day. I almost wish I could encourage the writer by saying, “Just breathe!”. But even more importantly, the Psalm offers comfort of it’s own in later verses. It ends with, “The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress”.

We need a rock when we feel anxious and panicked about this world and life. I am so thankful that the text I went to in Africa was Psalm 46. It pointed me to the fact that I wasn’t alone: God had people in that spot with me and He was THERE.

While I have only had one panic attack (at least as far as I know), I have had SEVERAL moments in life where I felt a bit overwhelmed and need to remember (or be reminded!) that God is my rock and sure salvation, even in a bad or challenging moment.

I encourage you to remember that those moments will pass, and that God Himself is with you and is your fortress!

Copyright Family of Christ Lutheran Church, Colorado Springs, Colorado