Lessons from my Grandson: Why We Let Fear Reign

A week ago Monday, severe thunderstorms, wind, hail, and a moderate possibility for tornadoes were predicted for our area. Schools closed early and even storm shelters were opened in preparation for what could lie ahead. Like leaves that are scattered this way and that on an overly windy day, people scurried to get home to batten down the hatches.

Plans that had been made were canceled with unexpected ones taking their place. We were to have dinner with a dear friend who was bringing two people my husband, Jerry, and I had looked forward to meeting. With the ensuing storms though, we canceled, allowing them to stay home, My son, daughter-in-law and two grandsons, who needed to seek shelter—because they had no basement—came over instead.

We had a delightful time. The wind howled, squealing around corners and eaves of the house. The sky darkened to a thick grey and twice, bursts of rain gushed from the sky. From our vantage point, our family could see, the brunt of the storms dissipating as they moved through the area. Thankfully, we were spared hail, tornadoes, and wind damage. What was left as the wind opened the night sky were traces and remnants of clouds left behind.

In spite of this, my grandson, Henry, was still very much afraid. He had heard the warnings given by the weathermen and women. In Henry’s mind, because they were experts, what they predicted was going to happen. There were no “ifs” in his world. Hail was going to come. Tornadoes would be here. Even Bonk, Henry’s name for Jerry, could not allay them. Trying to help Henry, Bonk took him out on the front porch showing him how the storm was passing. With the distant rumbles of thunder, Bonk would shrug his shoulders saying things like, “That’s so far away. Nothing to worry about.” But fear, taking up residence, had grabbed hold of Henry’s heart seeping into and rearing its ugly head in ways I never thought would come up on Henry’s radar.

When Henry’s family was getting ready to leave, his backpack, coat, and shoes already on, the realization he had to go to the bathroom hit him like a load of bricks. As he danced around in a flurry, because I was closest in proximity, I was able to rip his backpack and coat from him, making a mad dash to the bathroom. While he was in there, but because fear had become part of his DNA, Henry kept crying out to his mom and dad, who did not hear him, “Don’t leave me. Don’t leave me.” A little stunned by his words and trying to calm him as he was finishing up and washing hands, in a soothing voice I kept repeating, “They won’t leave you, Henry. They have never left you. You don’t need to worry.” Those words had no sooner left my lips when in my heart, I knew the Lord was impressing on me the same thing: “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” (See Hebrews 13:5b.)

How many times have we all been there? Unreasonable fears have latched on causing us to live in the realm of the “what ifs.” Something happens or a subconscious thought flits by that we sometimes cannot even put a finger on, and in a totally unrelated arena, we react in a way we normally would not. It’s those niggling and unsettling things that cause us, like my grandson, to let fear reign.

I found myself there just the other day. In getting our new home ready to move into, and the retreat center/AirBNB ready to open, doubts started circling around me, like vultures do their next meal. Crumbling with the possibilities of it all going south, because when praying about this venture when it first came about, I didn’t get that clear cut answer all of us want to hear when we pray, I felt I was supposed to step out in faith. Asking Jerry to join with me in prayer because of my unsettled heart, most of what I could say was, “Lord, I just need to know You are with me. Please make that clear. I need to know what we are doing is what You want. Not some crazy notion of our own that we are trying to put the onus of, on You.”

The bottom line. God is faithful. In spite of ourselves, when Jesus, His Son, lives in our hearts, and we are seeking to love the Lord with all our heart, all our strength, with all our mind, and all our soul, He doesn’t give up on us. Even when we stumble. Even when we fall. In 2 Timothy 2:13 it says, ”if we are faithless, he remains faithful—for he cannot deny himself.”

God promises:
~ that if any one of us run to Him asking Him to guide and point the way, He will.
(See Psalm 31:3.)
~ that if we commit our way to Him, He can be counted on to direct our paths.
(See Proverbs 3:6.)
~ that if we hold fast to Him, in times of trouble—and there will always be some—He will take care of us. (See Psalm 91.)

“And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.” -Romans 8:38, 39 NLT

“Lord, in your mercy, hold my feet to Your path. Like those sheep You lovingly tell us we are so much alike, I’m too stupid to know the difference. I need You far beyond what I know.”

Kimberly

For further reading, look at Psalm 23, Psalm 25, Psalm 37, Psalm 40, Psalm 85, Psalm 139.