Faith in Fear

In the midst of pain and trauma, we learn how much work it takes just to sustain ourselves . . . how much work it takes to simply breathe. When the world is crashing down around us, when the unimaginable happens, when we don't even want to face life anymore, sometimes we find how hard it is just to keep breathing. The unimaginable happened to me just this past weekend. After the shock and disbelief, when reality sets in, life becomes more difficult. The bare essentials take much more work, and forget about doing more than what is necessary to stay alive. It was when I noticed it was difficult for me to breathe, that it was also difficult to pray. When something utterly terrible happens, how do you pray? What do you pray for? How do you form the words to ask God for help, when you don't even know what you need help with?

Because I just experienced it, I know how you feel. It is very difficult to maintain the very essentials of life: breath, and prayer. In our fear and pain, we do not know exactly how to deal with the situation. In our fear we tend to distance ourselves. If we do not know how to effectively deal with a situation, we draw back and refuse to face the world. This tends to hurt us more than it helps us. Although, up to a certain point, it is beneficial to take some time to yourself to let the situation settle. However, if you let the situation remain surreal, you will never deal with it. If you do not face reality, you can never conquer it. If you do not breathe, you will die. If you do not pray, God will not hear you.

The Bible talks a lot about fear, and also about God being our Strength. In last Sunday's service and last Thursday's chapel, the theme for both was "ten ánimo." Translated as, have spirit! Jesus said to the paralytic, "Ten ánimo!" He said to His disciples of little faith, afraid when they saw Jesus walking on the water, "Tened ánimo! Yo soy; no temaís!" (Have spirit; it is I, do not be afraid!) Throughout the whole Bible, God speaks to us, so that we will have spirit, we will have faith, and we will trust Him to take care of whatever trials we may be going through. If you are happy, mad, or scared to death, ten ánimo!

When we have spirit, when we have faith, it becomes more of a reliance on God. When tragedy strikes and we don't know what else to do, we have to have faith that God is in control of the situation, that God knows what is happening and hears our cries. Finally, even if we feel we do not have the words to say, we have to pray. Tell God you don't know what to say. But also tell God how you feel....what happened? How did it affect you? Why are you struggling with it? What can He do to help you, or help the situation? If it's a friend in need, but you don't know how God can help, just ask Him to be in that friend's presence and love them. Cry out to God in your fear and pain, and be real with Him.

Amidst trials and tribulations, depend on God. "What doesn't kill us, makes us stronger." I'm sure this works emotionally, but you can also allow it to work spiritually. What doesn't kill you can make your relationship with God stronger, if you just have faith, breathe, and pray.




Psalm 23

". . . I trust in the Lord."
Psalm 31: 6

"But I trust in you, O Lord; I say, "You are my God.""
-Psalm 31:14

"God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea."
-Psalm 46:1-2