Good morning…
I got a funny email yesterday after sending my post, “God goes before us,” a post ending with this Bible verse, “Do not be afraid or discouraged, for the Lord will personally go ahead of you. He will be with you; he will neither fail you nor abandon you,” Deuteronomy 31:8 (NLT). The team mom from my daughter’s high school lacrosse team emailed me these words: “OK – This post is written by my niece, she lives in Raleigh, NC. What is the chance that you both would quote the same scripture on the same day? Think God is saying something to me?”
Her niece wrote this wisdom in her 4.8.16 blog, Whom Shall I Fear? by VoW,
“Consider our most common fears. Almost always they revolve around an imagined future projection of our reality. The problem is, as we create this imaginary scenario and ponder the bad things that could happen, we forget to include God. Not only is this troublesome for us and hurtful to Him, but it’s also unrealistic. As our future stretches into eternity, there is not even one second of it in which God will be absent. Already, our fears are unfounded.
Fear doesn’t exist in the present moment, because that’s where God is. And with God, there is no fear. Therefore, we must do all we can to stay present and not be afraid. When our mind begins to creep ahead of us, we must make the conscious effort to include God in our imagery of the future; helping us, strengthening us, encouraging us in all things. So that rather than being intimidated by tough times ahead of us, we will see them as the wondrous adventures that they are – times that God and us will get through together.
The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, Deuteronomy 31:8.”
I wrote my friend back: “God is hilarious! How can we miss His movement in everyday life? I love your niece’s blog and her fearless perspective. Inspiring the same scripture, on the same day, through two different writers, one in North Carolina and one in Georgia. Incredible. God is just incredible. To be honest, I think God is saying something to all of us: ‘I have prepared a way before you. I am with you. Please, do not be afraid.'”
Jesus looked hard at them and said, “No chance at all if you think you can pull it off yourself. Every chance in the world if you trust God to do it,” Matthew 19:26 (MSG),
Sue
