Anyone else hoping this year is just a bad dream that we’re about to all wake up from?? This has been a rough year for most.  It started with a plague that made many sick and has taken many lives.  It seems to have made itself an uninvited Resident.  Alongside it came a giant named Fear.  This fear giant has made us uncertain of the future, worry about our finances and the health of our loved ones.  We are afraid of what tomorrow may bring.  And right now we’re living with a lot of unanswered questions about the future.  Fear is a terrible leader.  It leads us down a web of worry until we’re tangled up and trapped by our own thoughts.  One of the enemy’s best weapons is fear.  Thankfully, we serve a God who has already defeated it.

 King David dealt with fear.  When he took a census of Israel he was operating out of fear mixed with a good dose of pride. In 1 Chronicles 21 David was an older man.  With God on his side he had conquered many neighboring nations, returned the ark of the Lord to Jerusalem, unified the tribes of Israel and was truly a man after the Lord’s heart.  But we all know He wasn’t free from sin and temptation, either.  When he decided to take a census of the capable fighting men of Israel, it was a decision prompted by the enemy, not by God.  David may have feared he didn’t have the military power needed to defeat surrounding nations, and wanted to count the men capable of fighting.  But he never won those battles based on military prowess.  He won because God was on his side, fighting for His treasured people.  It’s speculated that he also wanted to know how many people lived in Israel at the time, to see what kind of empire he'd built.  But the problem was that the people weren’t his possession, they were God’s.

 When we get caught up thinking we’ll get through this struggle if we have enough resources, we’re getting it all wrong.  God is looking for a people who put their trust IN HIM.  There’s nothing you and I can do to guarantee tomorrow.  We need to be a people who realize that every day is a gift from Him alone.  We are here on this earth because He’s allowed us to be. If we’re still here, then we have a mission to accomplish.  And making choices based on fear are some of the worst choices.  The best choices come out of a clear-minded, level-headed disposition, from eyes fixed on our Creator. 

 So take a deep breath.  We may be making the kind of history we don’t want to be writing, but trust God.  He’s always good and He’s always available to pour out His peace upon you.  Take a vacation today from fear and worry.

 Love you friends,

Diane

“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?” (Matthew 6:25-27)