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hope

So there’s this chance raising teenagers could kill me.

I’m (again) in one of these parenting seasons where hope feels like a mind game. There is indeed a battlefield in my brain, in my soul.

Outwardly I am still plowing through my inbox and loading the dishwasher and casting someone a Look, dirty gym sock dangling from my hand.

But inwardly, geez Louise. Sometimes it’s all I can do to keep from going off the rails on the crazy train.

I am praying, and I am praying a lot. But the other day a convicting passage hit me between the eyes like a tennis shoe, from When the Soul Listens: Finding Rest and Direction in Contemplative Prayer. Jan Johnson writes,

You and I meditate every day as we consider how to land a better job or redecorate a room. In fact, if we know how to worry, we know how to meditate. When we worry, we ask, “What if (this terrible thing) happens?” And we rehash all the awful possibilities.

Somewhere in Tim Keller’s book on prayer, he cautions on just praying to just worry in God’s direction. This mystified me at the time, because (as you’ll find in Keller’s other sermons, too) we are to pray our fears. The Psalms are all over this.

And Philippians states outright,

do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. (4:6)

But in all of this, sometimes I’m meditating on–chewing on–the problem more than I am God’s character. Or I’m even meditating on the outcome I crave from him (one that can become an idol, swelling to something I must have from God), rather than who he is.

And in that, my fear for my kids grows larger and more consuming than the character of God.

What Fear Keeps Us From

But is fear really that big a deal? Why is “fear not” (according to one theologian) the most stated command in the Bible?

Here’s my starting list of what fear can keep us from.

  • courage; confidence
  • obedience
  • hope; vision
  • trust, faith
  • remembering God’s actions and character
  • community; connection
  • sleep
  • listening to God
  • loving well
  • creativity (which requires risk, courage, and a sense of competence)
  • believing the best about others, God, or the future
  • humility: accurate self-perception (rather than insecurity or arrogance)
  • all the fruits of the Spirit (probably because it’s harder to welcome him in): love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith, gentleness, self-control

(Check out Fear: 4 Ways It’s Robbing You & Your Kids Blind.)

Hope to Chew On

So I’m creating this simple deck of “hope” cards for my soul and yours to chew on. Because chewing on fear continues to steal and kill and destroy, both inside and outside of me.

Download and print these verses here. (Might want to cut them out?) 

hope

hope

Any promises God’s been cheering you on with lately? I’d love to hear them in the comments section.

Keep pressing on, friends. Let God’s Kingdom come in our homes–starting in us.

 

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