My Aubergine Door

Tag: fear

  • Do not be anxious

    God, I sure wish you were here …

    Scripture reference: Philippians 4:6-7

    mother and child
    As a mother stills her child…

    Today I’m going to tell you about a little girl. Josie was her middle name. Now Josie was a worrier. She worried about all kinds of things: if her shoes were on the right feet; if she was going to have a birthday party; if she could find her way home after school; she sometimes even worried if her big sister had divided up the cookies at the tea party so it would be fair!

    BUT, Josie’s biggest worry was storms at bedtime.

    If she was brushing her teeth and putting on her pj’s to get ready for bed, and the sky was cloudy and angry-looking, Josie would zip over to the window, toothbrush still in her mouth, to see what the sky was doing. And into her stomach came something that went flip-flop with every thunder-banger.

    Josie would quick, quick, dive into her bed and say her prayers with one ear listening to the thunder and rain, and with her eyes squeezed tight. Then she’d pull up the bedsheets as far they would go, and she’d crawl into her bed as far as she could go! And with every flash of lightning flip-flop went her stomach! She couldn’t even think about her baby brother who might be anxious, too! Josie would say to herself: “I don’t want to be scared; I don’t want to be scared.”

    One stormy summer night Josie brushed her teeth, dived into bed and said her prayers and curled up into an anxious little ball under the covers, while the lightning flashed and the thunder crashed. “I sure wish Mommy were here,” she whispered softly. “Mommy, I want you to be here.”

    The thunder crashed. The rain poured down. Then Josie, deep under the covers, felt the bed creak as though …..   she pulled down the bedsheet and peeked into the darkness.

    There was Mommy, not saying a word, just sitting quietly at the foot of her bed, keeping company, while lightning fingers poked at the sky.

    But – how could Mommy have known? After all, she’d only whispered very softly, “Mommy, I want you to be here.” And Josie’s stomach stopped flip-flopping; and she wrapped her arms around her raggedy bear and went to sleep. And when she woke up the storm was over!

    The little girl grew up, and became a woman; and there was a different kind of storm; she became very sick. And when she was so very sick and lying in her bed, anxious about her family and her life; God was there even though she hadn’t called for Him out loud.

    And he kept her company during the sickness storm, so that she could go to sleep and wake up to a new day.

    ♥

    Paul, the great Apostle, l knew what he was talking about. Paul had plenty of experience with pain; he knew about the fear that makes us unable to put everything into the care of the Lord, unwilling to accept totally that God is the captain. Indeed, fear robs the joy and meaning of life.

    So what then? …. how can we be released from care? Ah, yes, the everlasting promise of peace if we take all to the Lord in prayer. “It no longer storms in my heart, even though all the burdens aren’t all gone.”

    In the storms of life: The Lord speaks; the storm at life; the storms of life, of deep anxiety.

    As a mother stills her child…

    ♥

    Listen to Stand By Me by David Lennard

  • The Lord my Rock

    Ancient fortress
    Ancient fortress

    David’s Rock, Fortress, and Deliverer

    Scripture reference: Psalm 18

    Can you tell me what this is? [a fort] Yes, a fort – very old, but still a very strong fort.

    Ever since Noah and his family spread over the earth, people in all parts of the world have built forts.

    They would build a wall out of the strongest thing they could find – logs, or big stones, or bricks, or concrete. Some of the walls were as high as the ceilings of this church – or even higher! – and lots of times the walls were so thick and so wide that you could build a house right on top of the wall – like Rahab’s house on the wall of the city of Jericho!

    Those walls had to be very, very strong – because the walls stood around the houses and the streets where the people lived; they kept the people safe from all kinds of awful things: wild animals, grass fires, and especially from the attacks of enemy warriors who wanted to hurt them and steal their animals and their food, even their children. The big, heavy gates in the walls were shut and locked at night, and whenever there was trouble; and if you happened to be outside the gate, perhaps hunting on the land, you always ran as fast as you could to get inside.

    The city inside the walls of the fort had everything the people needed to live and be happy – there was water to drink and food to eat. The people felt safe. They were protected; they could sing and play and go about their daily work and not be afraid. And even when they knew there was danger on the other side, they could look up at the big strong walls around their city and be thankful.

    Now King David was a very powerful king with many soldiers and many horses. He knew all about walls and forts and warriors. He knew how hard enemy warriors would try to get through the walls of a city to kill and steal from the people inside.

    And so that’s why King David made a song to God about forts. He called God his fortress – God was the place where he could be safe, the place where he always go and stop being afraid, no matter what happened. The time a bear tried to steal a baby lamb from his flock; the time the Anakite giant Goliath came tramping down into the valley; the time King Saul threw a spear straight at his head; and all the times his enemies had chased him through the land to kill him, God had taken care of him and made him strong. And even when he let Satan get into his heart and he forgot God – when he took Uriah’s beautiful Bethsheba; and when he tried to kill selfish Nabal after he and his men had sheared all those sheep for him, God loved David even then, and pulled him away from Satan, and made him strong again.

    And that’s why David said, “The Lord is my rock, my fortress, and my deliverer,” and he loved God with all his heart.

    ♥

    Listen to David’s Song of Prayer by Clint Brown performing at the Judah Music Conference.