If today started off like a Monday........
If you're feeling alone........
If grief overwhelms you........
If you're afraid........
For those feeling abandoned........
For those who can't find strength to carry on........
In troubled times........
Maybe you just feel small........
The LORD says,
"Fear not, for I am with you;
be not dismayed, for I am your God;
I will strengthen you,
I will help you,
I will uphold you with my righteous hand."
-Isaiah 41:10 ESV
I am an overprotective mother. I don't say that with pride.
But sometimes Fear overwhelms me.
Last weekend Hayden and his cousins went to the movies. I would have worried anyway, but considering the tragic event in Colorado, I played a chilling scenario in my head over and over.
Just last night, Hallie was invited to a friends to swim. I started to list the thirty safety rules, she and her dad finished them for me- quite sarcastically I might add.
I'm quite creative when it comes to coming up with things to worry about.
But quite honestly, the world we live in is becoming an increasingly scary place despite security systems, vaccines and airbags.
I handle my fear in several different ways.
1.I avoid doing anything (or letting my children do anything) that might bring about consequences outside my control. This is my most used method. I like to be in control.
2.I bubble wrap and proceed with extreme caution probably taking the fun out of many things we do.
3.I go ahead and dive in the deep unknown all the while trembling and terrified. Believe it or not I often feel this way when I speak in front of a small crowd. I'm talking about simply responding to a question in Ladies' Bible Study. It's ridiculous.
4.Not near often enough, I allow the uprising emotion of fear be my signal. Yes. Fear is a distress signal. And a distress signal suggests that immediate assistance is requested.
"Where does my help come from?
My help comes from the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth.
-Psalm 121:2
The only righteous fear, is fear that focuses on the Almighty.
I know I'm not alone in my struggle with fear. There are mamas out there sending their kids off to camps this summer. There are others who are sending their babies to college.
There are daddies that threaten to cause bodily harm to anyone who lays a hand on their daughters.
There are those of you waiting for test results-in fear. There are small nagging fears and there is fear that comes from nowhere rendering you unable to move (like the sound of Hayden's weights crashing to the floor in the garage at 1:00 AM this morning).
Fear can be your worst enemy.
Or-
Fear can be your friend; a friend that urges you to lean on One who is stronger, the One who is wiser.
Fear can be the friend that reminds you, "YOU'RE NOT IN CONTROL, TALK TO YOUR FATHER-HE IS".
What fear do you struggle with?
Do you have a favorite verse that brings you comfort?
We took a day trip to Stuart Beach in Galveston on Friday. It was a glorious day. We had some old friends come along with us. We had the ice-chest packed with snacks, a couple of umbrellas and lounge chairs, and seven smiling kids.
The water has always brought out my cautious side. I could simply stick my toes in the 
water and be a satisfied beach girl. The kids though, can hardly wait to get in the water-and that scares me! These are some of the precautions I took.
Armed with two cans of sunscreen I generously sprayed the children down.
Knowing that the current carries the kids down shore, I pointed out some red-painted posts, and further down, two rescue boards to serve as boundaries. I told them to start at the posts and to get out and come back if the current took them as far as the rescue boards.
"Pay attention to where you are", I told them, "and stay together".
As irony would have it, in no time the rescue boards were removed along with the boundary I had given. So I supplied a substitute boundary; a colorful umbrella.
No matter, because my children, like most children, inched farther from the shore as the day wore on, visible boundaries or not. I ended up in the water to help Rylie "the best surfer eva"(as she says). I tip-toed through deepening waters to help her catch a good wave. As the current strengthened we turned around to head back, but only in time to be assaulted by a wave. As I tried to help Rylie, she thrashed, making it harder for both of us to keep our heads above water.
As a parent, I avoid unsafe situations. It's just easier that way. If it were'nt for Jason I might not ever take my kids to the beach. I feel certain the kids will tell stories to their spouses and kids about things I wouldn't let them do out of fear. Out of all the things I didn't let Hayden do, He broke his arm twice, once needing surgery. The first break was during prayer meeting. He was hanging from a low limb with his feet twenty-four inches from the ground. The second break occured as he and I were swinging right beside each other (right before prayer meeting). No, avoidance and even prayer doesn't guarantee safety.
Boundaries are also established for safety. - "Don't go past the ...... -Be back by.......-DO NOT....." But boundaries don't guarantee safety either. Boundaries can easily be ignored or removed. Even if your children give heed to those boundaries, there is an ever-rolling current that carries them away from the safe arms of the shore.
Don't we all feel safer just being next to our children? As I held on to the black twine rope on Rylie's surfboard I felt more confident. In arm's length, that's where I best like to have my children. But it took one wave to render me powerless. What an awful feeling.
We can't safeguard our children or ourselves. In all honesty, we have less control than we'd like in a great number of matters. Our children's choices. The way other people drive. Outside influences. Sickness. Disease. Death. I felt small and helpless; tossed in the depths of those waters with Rylie. I feel powerless when I'm in the car with Hayden driving along a road with deep ditches on both sides. I am seemingly useless when Hallie faces a problem that I don't have the answer to.
Let's not forget the unseen hand that holds both the waves and us. "Even the wind and the waves obey him"-Matthew 8:27 
There's no promise that we won't be blasted by the wind or tossed by the waves.
We are not safe.
But take heart.....,
We are rescued.
Jesus sought me when a stranger,
Wandering from the fold of God;
He, to rescue me from danger,
Interposed His precious blood;
How His kindness yet pursues me
Mortal tongue can never tell,
Clothed in flesh, till death shall loose me
I cannot proclaim it well.
O to grace how great a debtor
Daily I’m constrained to be!
Let Thy goodness, like a fetter,
Bind my wandering heart to Thee.
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,
Prone to leave the God I love;
Here’s my heart, O take and seal it,
Seal it for Thy courts above.
-Hymn -Come Thou Fount