We who have lived know all too well that the years we have are all about the ups and downs, twists and turns, good and bad, the pretty with the ugly.  Sources of joy and coexisting sorrow are just part of the deal.  Said another way.  Life is a mixed bag, isn’t it, of great things along with all that is quite the opposite.

In the midst of what is occurring lately, I have found that for many people, including those for whom life is generally good at the moment, a lot of what is happening is creating some fear.  Fear over where the world might be headed.  Fear over shootings.  Fear over massive natural disasters piling up on top of one another.  Fear in response to lack of leadership at many levels and within all political persuasions.

Fear over the fact that our children are relating to devices, e.g. cell phones, seemingly more than they are to people.  Fear over what our children and children’s children are going to have to live with.  Maybe some of us feel not only some fear, but some hopelessness that there is not much we can do about any of these challenges.  

Fear is normal, healthy, God given and human.  Fear can help us and it is appropriate.  That said, sustained fear, fear that goes on and on and on well past the events that triggered it, might, very well, be an invitation from God to go deep inside and explore where it is coming from.  “What does this fear tell me about me. What does it tell me about where I am with God?  What does it tell me about my faith?”  And as an important aside, fear may helpfully prompt us to ask, “is this fear telling me also that I may need some help with it?”

What many have pointed out long before me is that God says, “Fear Not” more than any other command in the Bible.  Obviously fear is a challenge for many of us since God has so much to say about it.  

Max Lucado, the Christian writer says the following about fear.  He said, “Feed your fears and your faith will starve.  Feed your faith and your fears will starve.”  In other words, the more we focus on trusting God, the less fear we feel.  The more we focus on fear and not God, the more we will fear and the less trust in God we will have.

I know this is easier said than done.  I get that sometimes things are overwhelming and it can be a challenge to work through fear and to trust God.  I understand it takes practice.  It took Paul who wrote the letter to the Philippians practice.  In fact in the letter he said he had to learn how to be ok regardless of the circumstances he was in, through learning and practice.  

And so I invite you to join me in practicing something. Practicing something that will have a direct impact on us as we ride the roller coaster of life with all of its amazing and joyful ups and despairing, freaks me out downs.  

I invite us every in the days ahead, to simply say something to God like,  “God in the midst of joy. In the midst of sorrow.  In the the midst of goodness and pain.  With all that is happening.  Above all else, help me trust you.  Please give me the gift of trusting you.  I can’t get trust in you on my own, I know it comes from you.  Help me trust you.  Life is a roller coaster and sometimes the good and the bad happen at the same time.  Yet help me trust you and help me not be afraid.  Help me feed faith and not my fears.”

Paul, who repeatedly was in prison in dismal conditions, practiced and learned such a way of being by doing it over and over and over again.  And it led him to trust and to know, believe and act upon the truth, that “We can do all things through Christ who gives us strength.”