What's something that sticks out to you about fear?

Psalm 56:3 NLT: 3 But when I am afraid, I will put my trust in You.

What sticks out to me about fear is that it can be paralyzing. Fear can stop us from doing so many things in our lives. For some fear is simply walking out the door of their home. For others it can be flying or driving. And yet for others it is interacting with other people. There are just so many things that cause fear in our lives and that fear paralyzes us. 

When I was young, I was on a campout with my parents at a park in Central Iowa and the weather turned very quickly. Ultimately, I watched a tornado pick up a 5th wheel and slam it down on its top. Just to the south of where that happened was a pup tent and two bicycles. The bicycles remained up against tree and the pup tent stayed standing. Our fold down camper, which was just across the road from the 5th wheel, had a tent stake stuck in the roof, no other damage. Something that was easily fixed with some caulk. 

Now I could have become just deathly afraid of storms. But today I must be reminded by my wife to come inside or to stay away from the windows during storms. Those storms can be very scary, yet there is something that I find incredibly beautiful about them. We can do the same thing with any of our fears. If we give them over to God, then we can see the absolute beauty that only He can bring about from those fears. 

With the current pandemic, there is a lot of fear out there. But by looking at the world through God’s eyes I am seeing nature healing. I am seeing families spending more time together, some whether they like it or not. Families are eating dinner at the dinner table with each other. We are slowing down and in doing so we are able to look at all the beautiful things that we have around us. Please, do not get me wrong, this pandemic is horrible; people are dying, people are deathly ill, and people are in harm's way daily because they have to work in this environment. We have to remember that this is not something from God because we live in a fallen world there will be things like this pandemic. But in all things God brings blessing. Give your fears to Him and watch the beauty He brings.