Fear in the Dark

When I was a little girl looking back now I went through a period of time I was so scared of the dark....I would wake up and scream for hours thinking the house was going to catch on fire or there was someone lurking in the dark outside my bedroom door.  My poor parents and siblings how exhausted they must have been.  Yet they nightly would reassure me it was OK, but I dreaded the next night.  Daylight brought peace, I could see everything around me.  The darkness clouded every certainty I had those scary and frightening nights.

Fast forward years later, I have went through another battle with fear.  Seems like daily I wake up not knowing what to expect that next day.  Will I be frightened, doubtful, lacking confidence. Will circumstances that are in my imagination come to haunt me.  There I find my thoughts creating a deep response in me.  Though some people experience anxiety in many physical and mental forms I have found such an awareness of the physical effects it produces.  Feeling trapped in your body, wanting to run away from it but internally held captive.

I've told many people instead of now sitting and thinking of solutions out of my doubt alone, I have learned to immediately go to the word.  There I find a pathway of conversation to Jesus that gives me that reassurance to get through another day.   Though I know this will not magically go away overnight or the fears and doubts will suddenly subside. These are the promises he gives you and I to keep pressing forward.

My prayer for you today is in your darkest most doubtful hour....when a burden so heavy on your heart is immobilizing you.  That you read these promises and know the one thing we can be assured and hold tight to is this.  You have no idea the miracle that lies ahead for you.  When it is dark it is hard to see the fullness of Gods doing behind the scenes.He works tirelessly on your behalf to deliver you from the dark. Just as he promises he guarantees healing and wholeness when you seek him in your fears with all your heart.

There is two things in my devotional today I want to leave you to pray over. 

For years I tried the first approach to deal with my darkness. Yet each attempt to help myself failed. It was only when I turned to God, crying out for His help, that things started to change.

Today, if you are in the darkness … if your circumstances are threatening to consume you … if you feel utterly defeated … seek the Lord. Ask Him to rescue you and remember this, He is there … parting your “Red Sea.”

Dear Lord,

Bless those who are reading this today.  Who find hope in your word that you can send through me.   Please each day Lord let us seek and find the truth and hope of all the work you are doing behind the scenes to deliver us.  That you have promised and will fulfill those promises to give us a miracle we could never even imagine.  That Lord through this journey of darkness, there is light.  It's a light that we will be blessed to find that brings us closer to you.  In your name we pray. Amen.