In Pursuit of the Almighty...He's There Changing Our What Ifs to Even Ifs....

So far, in the last ten years, I don't believe I've repeated a blog theme, let alone a series of blogs.

It's my habit to be seeking the Lord anew and to share afresh those things that He is teaching me.

HOWEVER, we are in a rare and different season of life.

There is no sense of "normal," and, who knows what the new "normal" will look like as we navigate out of this Coronavirus-world we are growing accustomed to living.

As a result, my counseling/mentoring/discipling, which has picked up and is zeroing in on a familiar theme...

The stories always begin with: "What if..."

These are worry words.

Anxiety words.

Fear words.

When we live in the question of "what if?," faith is obscured.

The clouds those words form over our lives can totally block out The SON (no, that is not a spelling error).

With this introduction, I have sensed the Lord speaking to my heart to go back and focus once more on a series I did in 2019, that began on May 2, and lasted about 16 weeks.

I'm not going to repeat each post, but I am going to re-focus, and re-fresh our memories about what a road to #bebrave looks like.

AND, I sense the Lord directing me to not go week-to-week as is typical, but reworking old posts every-other-day, for these are trying times and the message is needed now...

So, forgive me for a repeat theme, but my prayer is that for someone somewhere who may pick up this blog, there is a Word of Encouragement for you...and, for me, as well.

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I grew up under a "what if"cloud.

I may have been the most fearful child ever born.

Cute....but fearful.

(me, at 6, did you know I was crowned a queen at an early age...the crown is MINE!)

My "what ifs" were never spoken aloud.

I don't know why that was, maybe, I knew in my heart the worries and concerns weren't valid, but, also, after introspection, I was afraid they were.

My fears had fears.

This happens most of the time.

One fear gives birth to more fears...and those fears have unanswered questions, and they give birth to even more fear, until our stomachs ache, we can't eat, we feel paralyzed, and we aren't sure we want to even venture out of our home.

This was my story.

When I was six, my dad purchased the local movie theater.

I loved it.

I was entertained weekly with new movies, and found myself living in my own little movie-world-of-the-mind.

From the time I was big enough to reach, my job was to pop the corn and bag it for the customers.

I loved that, too...

But, as an impressionable young child, who didn't know how to process information at all well (and children don't), I succumbed to fear from a "news short" that stuck like velcro to my mind for (literally) YEARS!

Back in those days, the cartoon and feature film were often preceded by some kind of a news feature that highlighted historical events.

The one that left me frozen with fear was the black-and-white-"short" that informed viewers of the bombs dropped on Japan that ended World War II.

It didn't take but a second to find pictures on the internet, and even a 1-minute YouTube video .

But, from the moment I watched, I lived under the "what if" questions.

What if a bomb was dropped on my little home town?

What if everyone died and I was the only one who survived?

What if I was at school and I couldn't find my family in all the chaos?

What if I died and wasn't with anyone who loved me when I did?

Not long after that, the nightmares began...

It was the same nightmare...all based on the "what ifs" I'd been asking...and, always in black and white.

A bomb would go off in my little coastal hometown.

I'd see myself walking up and down the streets of my neighborhood (curiously the neighborhood was still intact).

I'd be calling for my people...but never get any answer...and I knew I was all alone in the world...except for the enemy who had dropped the bomb.

They'd be coming toward me (there were no such thing as zombies back then, but think "zombies")...

I was the only survivor...

And, I would wake up in a panic.

Same dream. Over and over and over. Until....I was in high school.

Until....I met Jesus.

The night I became a Jesus-follower my life changed in the instant of a prayer.

That same night, I came home, got down on my knees for a second time, and dug under my bed for a dusty Bible I knew was there somewhere...

When I got up, I began reading where my friend who had led me to Jesus told me to start: the Book of John.

I got to verse 14.

...and the Word (who I knew was Jesus) became a human being and lived among us...

There was a side note in my little Bible.

It took me to Matthew's gospel, where Joseph and Mary are told that the Child who would be born to them, would be called Immanuel - God with us.

There was another little note that sent me to the end of Matthew, where Jesus tells His disciples... "and I am with you always, even to the end of the age."

Right there.

Those words.

They changed everything about my fear...

I wasn't alone.

Never would I be alone!

The Lord MY GOD was with me.

The Jesus I now had a personal relationship with would NEVER LEAVE ME...not even if the world as I knew ended (besides, I had just been told that now I would spend eternity with this same Jesus).

God was BIGGER than all my fears.

And, He's bigger than yours!

That night the wind of the Holy Spirit blew those clouds away, and the SON began shining on my world.

Would I stay #bebrave forever?

Naw...

But, every fear I experience takes me back to that moment when I realized, I would never be alone.

SOMEONE who controls the universe IS for me, attentive to me, and WITH ME...

Pondering this TRUTH puts fear into perspective.

is the beginning step on the road to #bebrave.

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Now, I can preach to myself this truth every time fear raises its ugly head...

No matter what, EVEN IF (not "what if") the Lord is with me wherever I go...

What a great season to live in the "even ifs" and see the SON SHINE!!!