fear

I think that in the society that we live in today it is hard not to be overcome with fear. Everywhere you turn someone is bringing up some new thing that you hadn't ever thought of to be fearful about.

I have quite a few well intentioned friends that send me these 'must read' emails. They are about new ways to be carjacked and scammed. And then there are the ones where someone in some place you've never heard of has some random something happen... but everyone needs to be aware of it. This past Autumn I got an email about a kid that decided to pile up leaves and hide in them and his dad didn't know and ran over him with a truck.

You hear of children being abducted from their own yards.. and of insane people cutting babies out of pregnant women. You watch Oprah and realize that should your minivan wreck into a body of water that you are not prepared to rescue yourself and your kids. You watch the news and they tell you about meth that is made to look and taste like candy. Of course, I don't want some horrible thing to befall me or my family... but my goodness... the knowledge of all of the things that could possibly go wrong is insane. We can't eat spinach, because we might get food poisoning and die.... we can't play in the leaves, because we might get run over by a truck. on and on and on and on.

I tell myself that I trust the Lord with all my heart, yet when I watch Megadisasters or one of those shows about crazy natural disasters that maybe, possilby, might happen and I feel my anxiety level rise and my stress level shoot up.

Life is risky business and in the end.... no one gets out alive. But I think sometimes we should spend a little less time worrying and fretting about what 'could' happen and just live a little. God doesn't promise us that nothing bad will ever happen to us, but He does say that He will never give us more than we can bare, that He can use any situation to make us more like His Son, and that He will always be there with us... no matter what we go thru... to give us His peace and comfort.

So when I flip the channels and see the financial news talking about impending economic crisis or the weather channel talking up the next possible disaster, I just take a deep breath and realize that My Heavenly Father spoke the very planet on which I stand on into existence.... so I am in good hands.