When you look at the above picture what do you feel? What do you see? What comes to your mind? Do you feel peace and tranquility? Does it make you want to lean in and take a bit or grab a cherry? I ‘see’ Mother’s Day and the faces on my children as they bring me breakfast in bed. Because they are just so dang excited. And, of course they stand there and watch me eat every single bite! Your kids ever do that too?

We are living in some crazy crazy times right now. The uncertainty is so ripe you can taste it. The fear is evident in everyone I talk to. Peace and tranquility seem to be things of the past. People are angry. They are irritated. They are pragmatic. Some just don’t even seem to care. Where do you find yourself right now?

During this past week, I have found myself, at times, leaning in the wrong direction. I was ‘seeing’ and looking in the wrong direction. I have had to breathe and pray my way through my anger at people who refuse to take this virus seriously. Breathe and pray my way through the food shortage and the hoarding. Breathe and pray my way through the things that I hear….that I just don’t understand.

Are you a news junkie? Me? I don’t watch the news…ever. But, a few days ago, I found myself reading an article on my computer about the mass 600+ deaths in Italy….in just one day. There were pictures of people lined up bed-to-bed with oxygen tents and ventilators. And I found the fear creeping into my whole being. I laid on the sofa, covered myself with a blanket and just cried. Do you sometimes feel this way too?

Because the gym is closed I started a new exercise program. It requires me to go for an hour walk 4 times a week. Rain or shine. I find myself looking at the lake and hearing the water lap back and forth, back and forth, back and forth. I find myself listening to the birds. Singing their praises of another sunrise. Another day has come. Another opportunity to live to the fullest. Another opportunity to be victorious.

And as I listen to the birds, I am reminded of Matthew 6:25-27:

‘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?’

Worry.

What is worry and where does it come from?

• ‘The root cause of worry, in a nutshell is, you want to be in control – and you aren’t.   Things are swirling around you and you want to grab them and tell them what to do, where to go, how to behave.

’Do you feel totally out of control right now? Do you feel like there are very few things you can grab and hold onto? You can’t find toilet paper. Baby formula is non existent. Hand sanitizer and alchohol are scarce. The proper masks for health care workers are disappearing fast. Not counting your jobs and your way of life. Don’t you just want it all to stop NOW?

After my crying spree on the sofa I realized that I was on the precipice of a tall mountain and ready to fall. And my fall was not going to be pretty. I was leaning into the fear, worry, hand wringing, and not trusting side of the mountain. I was leaning towards all of the things that were not good. All of the things that were scary. All of the things that are not of God.

Thankfully, I realized that I needed to drag myself back to the center of what really mattered. Back to who I am as a person. Back to the glass being half full and never half empty. Back to what Jesus says. Back to what I believe in my innermost core and being. Back to trusting that my heavenly Father has it all under control. Because, if God is for me who can be against me?

I also realized that I am writing the story that I will tell someday. Someday when this is all over, I will be asked: ‘But Grandma, what did you eat?’ ‘But Grandma, did you go outside at all?’ ‘But Grandma, weren’t you scared?’. I want to be able to tell the truth of how I felt and how I handled the scariest thing I had ever faced.

I want to say that I leaned into Jesus and I heard him say to me ‘Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.’ (Matthew 11:28). He is saying the same thing to you too. Lean in. I will hold you close. I will give you peace.

Do I understand what is going on around me? No. Do I know the reason? No. Can I change anything that is happening? No. Will worry fix anything? No. Does fear change anything? No.

What I do know and understand is this: Fear, worry, anxiety and stress only change me. The same thing will happen to you too. You will become an unrecognizable person. A person who is harming, not only themselves, but your families and friends around you too. A person who only sees the bad and nothing of the good. Because, believe it or not, there is always good. There is always hope. There is always peace.

Finding the good, hope and peace are choices that you need to make. I choose victory….every time. I choose joy. I choose hope. I choose to look at the half full glass and wonder how I can fill it to the brim.

I am praying for you. If you are on that wrong side of the mountain I pray that you will choose to pull yourself back up to the top of the mountain and look over on the other side. I am praying that you don’t fall into the abyss. I am praying that you can peace in a time that is ripe for anxiety and fear.

Here are a few more scriptures for you to hang onto:

• For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 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. (Romans 8:38-39)
• When anxiety was great within me, your consolation brought me joy. (Psalm 94:19)
• But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint. (Isaiah 40:31)
• I sought the Lord, and he answered me; he delivered me from all my fears. (Psalm 34:4)
• ‘Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times and in every way. The Lord be with all of you.’ (2 Thessalonians 3:16).

Need scripture that you can print out and take with you? Prayers to overcome fear & anxiety?

10 prayers to help you combat fear, anxiety and depression.
4 x 6, 5 x7 formats. and 2×3 formats
(perfect for you to laminate and keep or give away)

If you need a little more – Check out ‘Praying Through the Fear.‘

If you need anything, please let me know in the comments below. Or send an email to: hello@positivelyjane.net. I am happy to pray for YOU.

Stay safe. Stay healthy. Stay home.