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The year is winding down and we’re asking, “What comes next?” The worries throw pebbles at our windows late at night and we wonder if we should answer. Before we lift the cold glass and let the night in let’s pause for a story…
Most of us know it already. We’ve read it on thin-papered pages or seen it on flannel boards as wide-eyed children. Watched it unfold on a movie screen. The bush burns with flame and Moses stands on sacred ground. He is given a divine assignment. When Moses asks God, “Who should I say sent me?” the answer is simply, “I Am.”
What does that have to do with us now? Moses was afraid just like us. And I want to understand how this encounter turned a hesitant speaker into a leader, a fugitive into a fighter, a worrier into a warrior.
I first thought of this one day as I contemplated the future. I asked, “God, why aren’t You here in this terrifying tomorrow I’m picturing?” And it seemed He gave the same reply Moses heard: “I Am.” In other words, “I am with you in this moment. And if you do get to that place you’re imagining then I will be there too. But I’m not there now because you’re not there. I am always with you.”
This is the secret: When we dwell on concerns about the future we will always feel fear because God’s not there. He is, instead, in our midst. Right by our side. Not ahead of us but sharing every step.
This matters because it changes how we make our decisions in this moment. As my friend Jennifer said, “I used to be afraid of everything and a lot of my decisions were fear-based instead of faith-based.” We can choose what we’ll do based on what might happen or we can do so based on what will be true no matter what happens.
This is what we will never change:
God is in control.
We are loved.
He has a good plan for our lives.
We can trust Him.
He is already working on our behalf.
We will never be alone.
Fear whispers that none of this is sure or certain. It tells us we’d better hedge our bets and build our own ladders and put the sandbags around our lives just in case. Fear makes us hustlers and hurriers, exhausted and endlessly trying to control it all.
Faith says instead, “I am with you always.” In other words, let’s not trust in a human plan. Or a campaign promise. Not a forecast or a prediction. No, let’s place our trust in the One who loves us. Who sees all of history. Who is not surprised or startled, overwhelmed or perplexed.
If God is always with us then aren’t we standing on sacred ground in this moment too? If so, we don’t have to open the window to fear today. Only grace. And courage. And wild, burning bush, light-the-world-on-fire love.
XOXO
Holley Gerth
– This post is Part Three of the End the Year with Less Fear series inspired by this #MoreThanSmallTalk Overcoming Fear video.
– Looking for encouraging gifts? There’s something in my bookshop for every woman on your Christmas list this year. {Psst…lots of sales are going on now.}
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Welcome to the Coffee for Your Heart weekly link-up! You’re an encourager so I’m asking you to pour out a little love with your words every Wednesday {link-up goes live at 5:30am CST}. Simply write an encouraging blog post and then share it here. Don’t have a blog? You can still write an encouraging comment. If you’re reading this by email, go to holleygerth.com to see all the fun and join in too.
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I’m having Coffee For Your Heart with my friend Holley Gerth
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