June 23 – “About fear …”

We started our day yesterday with some ministry action.  I was working at my desk and Chris was reading the paper.  Just after 8 a.m. there came a knock at our front door.  It was our neighbor Cori from across the street.  She was on her way to take her husband to a doctor’s appointment, but she had just received a phone call from another of our neighbors.  This is a lady who lives further down the street and has been there since I used to live on the street as a kid.  She raised her family there and now she lives there alone.  So Chris and I have been the ones she calls on when she has particularly medical issues.  Seems the message was that she had fallen and couldn’t get up.  No, really.  That’s what she told Cori.  So we hurried down to see what we could do. 

By the time we arrived one of her sons was already there.  She was off the floor, but she was feeling really dizzy.  She refused to do anything, though, until she heard it from Chris.  That’s a lot of trust there, isn’t it?  But Chris is quite knowledgeable and stays imminently calm in situations like that.  She talked to her for a while and then encouraged her to eat something.  By the time we left she was doing much better, although she said it still felt like there was nothing inside her head.  I told her I understood completely; I feel like that at least part of every day.  She agreed that she shouldn’t be driving for a while, and if it didn’t get any better she would go see the doctor.  Her son stayed with her until her daughter arrived.

Sadly, this sweet lady lives her life in a perpetual state of fear.  She is afraid of thunderstorms and dying and snakes and, well, just about everything.  I have talked with her before about her salvation, and she has definitely connected with God.  She assures me she prays every day, mostly pleading for help with some fear or other.  We did pray with her before we left. We have been really concerned for this lady, so please pray for her.  Fear can totally debilitate a person.

1 John 4:18-19 says, “There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love.  We love, because He first loved us.”

Father, grant our neighbor a hefty portion of your peace that passes understanding.  Help her to feel your presence so she doesn’t live her life in a state of fear.  Amen.