fear - Janet Hanson

What has he said? Fear Not!

“Fear not, I am with you; O be not dismayed, for I am your God and will still give you aid; I’ll strengthen you, help you, and cause you to stand, upheld by my gracious omnipotent hand.

When through the deep waters I call you to go, the rivers of sorrow shall not overflow, for I will be with you in trouble to bless, and sanctify to you your deepest distress.

When through fiery trials your pathway shall lie, my grace all-sufficient shall be your supply; the flame shall not hurt you; I only design your dross to consume and your gold to refine.

The soul that on Jesus has leaned for repose I will not, I will not desert to its foes; that soul, though all hell should endeavor to shake, I’ll never, no never, no never forsake!”

For like a shaft, clear and cold, the thought pierced him that in the end the Shadow was only a small and passing thing: there was light and high beauty forever beyond its reach. ~J.R.R Tolkien

What you fear, you will face.

Introverts will be asked to speak to the crowd.
Extroverts will find themselves suddenly alone.
The timid will be appointed to lead the charge.
The arrogant will have power pried from their grasp

Have you seen this to be true? And when you face the very enemy you most dread, a circumstance that the person next to you would slip through with ease, do you chalk it up to the finger of sadistic fate, or to a Divine Artist’s careful design?

A prayer, a dance

In Elizabeth Goudge’s The Scent of Water, a vicar offers a life-giving prayer to a young girl in crisis, There are three necessary prayers and they have three words each. They are these,

Lord have mercy.
Thee I adore.
Into Thy hands.

A cry for help. A sigh of gratitude. A costly surrender.

Trust, remember, yield. Turn, look up, let go.

A trinitarian dance for this life–the cadence and choreography to lead us through even what we dread most. But someday we will need only the middle prayer. In both meanings of the word we will adore God (verb) and adore God (feeling). We will realize that with every cry he drew near, and our every act of obedience was carefully poured, like precious oil, over the rusted, broken pieces of our efforts.

And we will fear no more.

Are you facing what you most feared? What are you learning in the midst of the storm?