Not So Scary After All

In case you've been hiding under a rock lately, the world is a scary place.  I don't know why we think that is news because that's the way the world has always been, but it seems like we have become more aware of it these days.  In large part, that's due to social media and how quickly news spreads.  Being aware that this is not new doesn't change the fact that we live in a scary place, and it certainly doesn't make it any less scary.  But can I be honest?

For a few years, I've lived in fear.  Everything seemed so unstable and so up-in-the-air.  I didn't feel like I had an anchor to keep me steady.  Satan uses fear to control us because he knows fear can be debilitating.  I let him have that control over my life because I didn't know what else to do.  When I should have been pressing into the steady Savior who is a rock and anchor for my soul, I was trying to trust in the world all the while praying that God would take my fear.  He was trying, but I wouldn't relinquish it.  

See, I like to be in control.  I like to be the one in charge, knowing what's going on and how it is going to happen.  God wired me that way, and I tried to use it as an excuse instead of letting him perfect it and use it for his glory.  He's working on that in me at the current moment, and I can't really say it's been all that enjoyable, but it has been a sweet time of knowing my Savior intimately.

God has in his plan to make his children his reflection, and sometimes - most times - it hurts.  We are giving something up for something greater.  We are dying to ourselves, sacrificing our desires for his that he may be glorified.  How does he do that?  He brings us to a place where we have no other choice than him.  For the last 9 months, God has been saying, "Trust me."  All he is asking is that I would be obedient.  And just when I think I have it mastered, he asks me to do it again.  I keep thinking I'll get a break, but apparently, he isn't finished.  

I have to say, in the times that I've walked in obedience of trusting God with my life since he sees the whole picture, I've seen great growth and great reward.  He ALWAYS proves faithful.  In the middle of moving and not knowing what we will do for jobs, he provides income.  In the middle of a cancer scare, he provides healing and comfort.  In the middle of not knowing where we fit, he gives us a place of comfort and companionship.  

I would like to think that the reason he is so faithful to give us these good gifts and be the comforter, healer, and provider that he is, is so for us.  The real truth is that it's for him.  So that he may be glorified and lifted high.  So that we may know he is who he says he is and he does what he says he will do.  Because he has been so faithful, I'm done living in fear.  I'm done letting Satan have that foothold.  I'm moving forward in trusting and obedience.  In that state of mind, the world doesn't seem so scary.