I’ve designated “fear” as this month’s theme. And perhaps the scariest thing is that I have so much experience in this area. In fact, it is taking my a very, very long time to write this first post on fear, because I have so much fodder.

There have been stretches in my life where my mode of operation was fear. One of those stages was in adolescence, and I wrote about that last month. I’m kind of going through another one of those stretches right now.

There was a period of a few years, not too long ago, when one bad thing after another kept happening. I felt like I was at sea in the middle of a storm, one wild wave crashing over my boat after another. Just as I would catch my breath, another wave would hit.

For the last year or so, though, things have calmed down. A little bit choppy, but no hurricanes, not even a lightning storm, really. But since the last storm has passed, I keep looking at the horizon, straining to spot the next one. Instead of relaxing, I find it eerily calm.

“What will happen next?” I keep asking myself. “Will my children get kidnapped or abused? Will I get cancer? Will my husband die in a freak accident? Will we fall down in some sort of financial disaster? Will world war break out? Will there be a school shooting at our academy? Will someone close to me go through something terrible? Will my children and grandchildren be persecuted? Will I? Will I lose someone I know, too young?”

I fear the next big, bad thing. I’m scared about what’s coming next.

There are a lot of things that help me:

1. God will be with me when the next storm hits.

2. God will work it out for my good when it hits.

3. No storm that happens here can separate me from his love.

4. God is bigger than the boogy man.

5. Yelling this in my brain: STOP IT!

Stop it. Stop it. Stop it. These big scary crazy horrible situations that I cook up in my head? They are TEMPTATIONS. They are things that the devil whispers in my ear, late at night, to get me to take my eyes off of the TRUTH that God is love, that God is in control. When I start feeling myself hyperventilate, sometimes just saying STOP IT really works.

It’s why Jesus simply said, “Don’t worry.”

Don’t worry…that’s it. Don’t worry…end of story. Don’t worry…run the other way. Why am I so surprised when this simple direction works?

Lord, help me to listen to you, to cling to your promises, to trust your words, to flee from worry. Amen!