Over the weekend my husband and I watched “Dateline”. It’s not a show we normally watch, but that particular episode featured a local story about a girl who had been kidnapped at an area of town we frequent. The other story in the episode was about a woman who was murdered by a man her husband hired to kill her. The worst part was that her daughter witnessed it all. I had ALSO read a story online that same day about a mother and her kids being “watched” at an Ikea.  The mother believed her kids were being targeted for human trafficking. Dateline is the opposite of a “feel good” show, but combined with this terrifying story, I went to bed with a lot on my mind. I started to think about all the terrible things that could happen (remember my anxiety post) and how easily it would be to live my life in fear.

Thankfully,  I don’t  have to live my life in fear. It’s not because I don’t think it could happen to me or my family, but it’s because I have hope. I have hope in a God that loves me and my family. A God that wants the best for me, to protect me. I choose not to live in fear because Christ died for me. He conquered the grave for me to live in hope. But my heart breaks for those who don’t have that. For those who live in fear. Who are plagued by terrible thoughts and heartache because they don’t know the hope that is Jesus Christ. I love Romans 8:38-39, “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Life is hard. God knows that. This wasn’t the life He wanted for us. He never wanted sin, hate or fear running rampant in His beautiful Creation. There are many verses on fear in the Bible, in the KJV “fear not” or “be not afraid” is mentioned 103 times. Like my daughter waking up from a nightmare, there will be times when we fear and God is always there to reassure us it will be okay.

“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” John 16:33

There might be a lot of things to fear today, but don’t choose fear. Choose hope. Choose peace. Trust in the one who has overcome the world.

Thanks for letting me share,