When Fear and Anxiety Tried To Overcome Me!

"Every tomorrow has two handles.  We can take hold of it with the handle of anxiety or the handle of faith."  Harold Ward Beecher

I always want to be honest with you here on this account.   I wouldn’t be telling you the truth if I didn’t admit that this week I could feel anxiety and fear welling up inside me.  A few days ago I was on my daily 3 mile walk.  As I was walking all the emotions of everything that is going on in the world finally hit me and overflowed into tears.  I started thinking of it all - the mandates, people losing their jobs, food and other supply shortages, inflation and the price of everything going up, the southern border, election integrity, medical freedom and so much more.  

As the tears began to flow  I looked up to big blue, vast sky that had big fluffy clouds floating in it.  I tried to look as far as I could see even past the clouds as if I was trying to look right into heaven.  I then said to God, “Lord, I know you must see what’s going on down here but it feels like things are spiraling out of control.  Every day we wake up to another insane reality of what’s going on.  It seems the only place I feel peace is when I am asleep. I know you are bigger than my fear!  I know you are bigger than my anxiety!  I know you are bigger than the problems and chaos we face!  I know you are the true Peace Giver!  I need You God more than every before!  I need to feel Your presence even stronger than ever before.  I need You Jesus!!”   

After I spoke those words to God I felt a calmness and peace come over me.  I kept looking up to Jesus!  I felt the burden lifting!  I felt the anxiety lifting!  I knew it was a sign that He had heard me and He was there and He was going to see us through.  That peace and strength He gave me that day was just what I needed to keep on keeping on.  He took away my troubled heart and caused me to instead be courageous to face whatever we have to face.

Are you facing something that is causing fear or anxiety to well up in you?  Is peace missing from your life?  Look up to Jesus!  Call on His name and He will answer you!  He will fill you and He will cover you with the most beautiful peace.  John 14:27 says, “I leave the gift of peace with you - my peace.  Not the kind of fragile peace given by the world but my perfect peace.  Don’t yield to fear or be troubled in your hearts - instead, be courageous!”

I took the picture above while staring out at the Sea of Galilee the last time I was in Israel a few years ago.  This is the same water where Jesus calmed the waters and even walked on water.  In Matthew 14:22-33 we read the account of Jesus walking across the water to the disciples in a storm. They were frightened and thought he was a ghost. So Peter,  yelled out, “Lord, if it’s you, tell me to come to you on the water.”    So Jesus told him to, "Come!"  Peter took a step out of the boat and we can see below what happened when he did.

But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord, save me!” Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. “You of little faith, he said, “why did you doubt me?”

When we read this story of Peter we kind of hone in on Peter's fear but it wasn’t the fear that sank him. Jesus didn’t say, “why did you fear?” He said, “why did you doubt Me?” Look at verse 30 ... "But when Peter saw the wind, he became afraid."  Peter only began to fear when he took his eyes off Jesus and looked at the storm.

So here is a lesson we can all learn.  When we  take our eyes off Jesus, we start to lose faith. When we don’t see Him in what’s happening around us, we lose focus and we lose faith.  Is there something you are fearful about that is taking away your faith and peace?  Let me know below in the comments and I will be pray for you that the Lord would take away all fear and replace it with strong faith and His sweet peace.  

Finding Refuge In God During Times of Hardship

 “In order to find security in God, we have to stop finding security in everything else. …Nothing in this world will offer you the security you have in God.”

Last week on #EmilysPinkPosts I shared with you the first of three verses that have helped me through this last month.  The first was Psalm 56:3, “When I am afraid I will trust in You.”  This verse reminds us that anytime we are having a situation we can’t control and fear tries to grip us that if we put our total trust in God He will see us through no matter what we are facing.  Once we trust put our trust in God what do we do next?  

In those troubling times God gives us life giving words that can be found in Psalm 46:1, “God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble.”  Trouble shows itself in many forms - illness, financial hardship, relationships, loss of a loved one and much more.  When troubles come our way they in a sense threaten us, they leave us feeling vulnerable to the unknown and they leave us feeling empty and helpless.  But I have good news!  God is our refuge and we can run to Him and He will shelter us from the storm.  He is our protector and He is always there to help us.  He gives us strength when we are weak and at our lowest point.  This verse reminds us that when we run to God for that refuge we don’t need to fear.  

The Hebrew word for refuge is chacah and means “to flee for protection, to confide in, to put one’s trust in.” The dictionary defines a refuge as a shelter or protection from danger, trouble, or to take refuge from a storm. It’s a place of safety, or anything to which one has recourse for aid, relief, or escape.  

There are three distinct practical ways that God is our refuge.

1.  We find refuge when we go to the Father in n prayer.  God is a Person in which to confide our troubles.  He wants us to cry out to Him and share with Him our fears, what’s causing our anxiety, stress or worry.  He wants us to be totally honest and share exactly what we are thinking and what we are going through.   Psalm 142:2 says, “I pour out my complaint before Him; I declare my trouble before Him.”  and Psalm 34:17 says, “The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears and recuses them from all their troubles.”  

2.  We find refuge when we commit ourselves to obeying the Word of God no matter what the cost.  God’s Word is a Place of protection and safety when we find ourselves in trouble and it’s true the place we must run to in times of trouble. God truly becomes our refuge we we trust His Word more than we trust what the world says or what even our own feelings are saying.  God’s Word is the only place we will find security and protection because it truly is the only source of truth.  Proverbs 30:5 says, “Every word of God is pure; He is a shield to those who take refuge in Him.”  

3.  We find refuge when we depend one the Spirit of God to lead us, empower us and sustain us through every trial or hardship we go through.  God’s Spirit provides the Power to sustain us through our troubles and He has provided a way for Him to be with us and that’s through His Spirit.  Jesus knew we need the power of the Holy Spirit to help us.  He promised His disciples that after He returned to the Father, that He would send us the One who is that very present helper.  We find refuge when we depend on the Spirit of God to lead us, empower us, and sustain us through whatever we are going through.

When you walk with God on a daily basis and commune with Him daily we truly can feel more confident when we face problems or hardship or trials.  He will give us what we need to endure any hardship we face here on earth.  We hen we believe in God and truly believe He is our refuge and strength we can face even the most dangerous or difficult situations with total confidence because God is with us.

When Fear and Anxiety Tried To Grip Me

  For those of you who are new here in the last month, every Sunday I “normally” write a Sunday faith post over on Instagram that I call #EmilysPinkPosts.  Why do I call them that?  The reason being is that I filter the picture for the post with a shade of pink so that when people see my IG grid they can quickly see the faith posts.   It’s been a month or so since I have written an Emilys Pink Post  We took a three week break and went back home to Indiana where we spent that time at my sister and brother in law’s lake house and then the day we arrived home Jordan was 6 days being sick.  The following month was filled with one week caring for him, then having in the hospital for 7 days after that and then now these last two weeks helping him recover here at home.  So, here I am today writing one now that things have calmed down a bit.

Starting today and for the following two Sunday’s I am going to a 3 part series where I share three verses from the Bible that helped me over this last month.  I am writing this not only to share with you but also as a reminder for me to look back at so when I go through something like this again I can go back and read them over and over again as a reminder to myself.

When we got the news that Jordan was sick I felt my heart sink to the floor.  The last thing you want is for one of your family members to be sick especially with the evil virus.  I could feel my emotions start to go all over the place - worry, fear, stress, anxiety started to fill my mind but then I immediately start praying Psalm 56:3 which says, “When I am afraid I put my trust in You.”  

Psalm 56 was written by David while he was running for his life from evil King Saul and his army. He lived each day wondering if that might be the day that someone would kill him.  Yet, more than once in this psalm he says, “I shall not be afraid”  You have to ask yourself how could he even say that when he was running for his life?  The reason why David could face horrific terrifying trials and tribulations was that he knew where and who to turn to in those times.  So, he cries out, “When I am afraid I will put my trust in You!”  Let’s break down the verse.  When he says, “I am afraid” he is acknowledging that the fear is real.  He isn’t denying he is afraid or fearful but he doesn’t stay there for long for he goes on to say that even though he is afraid he is putting his trust in God to see him through. He’s tell us that he knows where to turn to when he is afraid  . . .right to the Lord. This is where he goes from “I am afraid” to “I will not be afraid.”  How did he go from one to the other? Psalm 56:4 tell us  - “In God, whose word I praise, in God I trust; I shall not be afraid.”  David gets from one to the other by putting his trust in God and instead of praying “‘prayers of hope” he took the fear, stress and worry and prayed specific promises of God written in the word which is what he hung on to and confessed.

So, that day when worry, stress, fear and anxiety tried to grip me I shifted my thoughts and started to pray Psalm 56:3-4.  Confessing and praying the promises of God brought peace, comfort and strength to see the battle through. So the next time fear tries to grip you or come your way, and they will,  you will know where to turn to.  Turn to the One who can fill you with a peace that surpasses all understanding and who said, “In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”  (John 16:33).   We, like David, can say, “I shall not be afraid.  

Have a blessed day!

Emily