Author: Bre

whom shall I fear?


With so much chaos and uncertainty in our world there is no shortage of fear and worry. Every day, with tragedies happening all around, we are faced with the reality that we do not know what tomorrow will bring and are reminded that: we are not in control and do not know what is ahead.

When fear seems like the only appropriate response, is it truly possible to know God’s peace that surpasses all understanding while terror is reigning??

This morning I woke up with the words of Psalm 27:1 on my heart:

“The Lord is my light & my salvation; whom shall I fear?
The Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?“

It’s a familiar Psalm but today those two questions struck my heart differently.

I paused, sat with those two questions, and asked myself: “If I truly believe that God is who He says He is (my light, my salvation, and my strength) — then what am I afraid of? Is there a good reason for me to be worried? Should I be fearful?“

Sometimes we are so focused on what is causing us fear that we forget who God is and forget to live in the promises He has given us.

We forget that fear is ultimately a choice and we don’t have to be afraid.

In this verse it’s like David is reasoning with his soul, saying: “is there a good reason for you to be afraid?” Instead of magnifying the fear, David is exalting God above his fear, asking himself:

“Since God is my light — should I fear the darkness?”
“Since God is my salvation — is there a situation He cannot rescue me from?”
“Since God is my strength — should I be afraid of being weak?”

There is no darkness that can quench God’s light!
There is no situation that is so hopeless that God cannot rescue!
There is no weakness that He is unable to overcome!

So I began to bring the things that I fear before the Lord, one by one, it’s like He was lovingly asking me: “Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?” In Mark 4 Jesus speaks those words to His disciples when they are stuck in the middle of the sea during a storm. It’s not that the storm was not scary but they forgot who was in control of the storm. If they had remembered that Jesus was in control they would have had no reason to fear. They would’ve called out to Jesus instead of relying on their own strength.

When we fix our eyes on Jesus, our fear shrinks in comparison. We have a gracious Heavenly Father, the Maker of Heaven and Earth, who is fighting for us; He is our light, our salvation, and our strength — all we need is in Him.

There will never be a shortage of storms in our lives. In times when life is completely uncertain fear can feel crippling. When we don’t know what the outcome of a circumstance will be, we can have confidence that Jesus can either calm the storm or calm His child in the storm, and either way He is in control.

“I sought the Lord, and He answered me
and delivered me from all my fears.”
– Psalm 34:4

There will always be something tempting us to doubt God and choose fear. Sometimes we choose fear so quickly that we forget there was even a second option! But we are faced with a choice — just like FEAR is a choice, so is FAITH. We cannot live in faith and fear at the same time; we must choose.

When we compare our fear with the greatness and goodness of our God, the One who never changes and holds our days in His loving hands, our fear and the things that worried us will melt away in the light of His presence. Your situation may not change, but your perspective can.

My heart is heavy as I pray for for those in Afghanistan living under the terror of extremists and those in Haiti suffering after another tragic earthquake. I pray that God would work mightily and supernaturally in the midst of such evil and pain. I plead for those who are mourning and suffering in circumstances I may never face. I walk out my front door; realizing that girls across the ocean are unable to do the same. I open my Bible, worship out loud, and gather at church with my brothers and sisters in Christ; remembering that many do not have that freedom. I pray that Jesus would cover them in an unexplainable peace in the midst of such sorrow.

We have no control over life’s circumstances that evoke fear and worry in our hearts, but we do have a choice to trust God and walk in His promises or allow the situation to overwhelm us and extinguish our faith.

In these uncertain days may we choose to walk by faith and not by sight, fixing our eyes on Jesus: the Author and Finisher of our faith, whatever may come (Hebrews 12:2).

“But without faith it is impossible to please Him,
for he who comes to God must believe that He is,
and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.”
-Hebrews 11:6

courage & bravery

“wait on the Lord;
be of good courage,
& He shall strengthen your heart;
wait, I say, on the Lord!”

– Psalm 27:14

would you agree that it takes equal amounts of strength and bravery to wait patiently for something as it does to “go and conquer”????

the bravery and courage required to trust in the Lord through seasons of waiting is often underestimated or undervalued.

you never know what prayers those around you are persistently praying.
what battles they are quietly fighting.
what wounds they carry.
what wars they silently wage.
what they wrestle against every morning just to put their feet on the ground.

Exodus 14:14 says: “The LORD will fight for you; you need only to be still.” Surrendering our battles (and their outcomes!) to the Lord is frequently the hardest part. The greatest victory comes when we hold our hands up in worship, proclaiming: “Lord! This is Your battle to fight! It’s not mine. I am going to trust You and obey Your command to be still.”

It takes true courage to be still while the battle rages on; a courage that only the Lord can give.

Never underestimate the bravery required to trust, wait, surrender, and be still.
Wait on Him and remain faithful where He has placed you today.

“Watch, 
stand fast in the faith,
be brave, 
be strong.
Let all that you do
be done with love.”

– 1 Corinthians 16:13-14

He sees, He knows



Psalm 31:

7 I will rejoice and be glad in Your steadfast love,
      because You have seen my affliction;
     You have known the distress of my soul . . .

14 I trust in You, O Lord;
     I say, “You are my God.”
15a  My times are in Your hand . . .

22b You heard the voice of my pleas for mercy
     when I cried to You for help.

24b Be strong, & let your heart take courage,
     all you who wait for the Lord!

I love Psalm 31; the whole chapter is so encouraging, but for the sake of this post I’ve only highlighted the verses above.

In verse 7 David proclaims that he will rejoice, NOT because God has delivered him OUT OF his affliction or his distress (although He is certainly able to!) — but because God has seen his affliction and God knows his distress. No matter what you are walking through, the suffering you quietly carry everyday, the pain you cannot ignore, the hurt you haven’t moved on from, or the questions you silently bear — we can take take heart knowing that: God sees. God knows. “You have seen my affliction; You have known the distress of my soul.” Just because He hasn’t responded like you expected doesn’t mean He is unaware. You are not alone in your pain. We can still rejoice in the midst of great suffering and uncertainty because His steadfast love will never change.

Then, there’s a simple prayer of faith in verses 14 & 15:

“I trust in You, O Lord,” I say,
“You are my God.
My times are in Your hand . . .”

In a recent message at church we talked about the prayer that Jesus prayed to His Father in the garden of Gethsemane: “Father, let this cup pass from Me — nevertheless, not My will but THY will be done.“ In our prayers we are frequently focused on what we want to change or what we want to pass. But, if we never come to the “nevertheless” in our prayer, we will never share Christ’s heart. Until we come to the place where we can sincerely pray: “not my will, but THY will be done,” we’ll never reach the place of trust and surrender, like David says “My times are in Your hand.”

We may never have an answer to the “why” He didn’t allow the cup to pass, stop the affliction or end the distress — but we can trust His heart.

I’ll never forget hearing a dear sister in Christ share about her husband’s sudden passing. She shared a quote from Spurgeon that read: “God is too good to be unkind and He is too wise to be mistaken. And when we cannot trace His hand, we must trust His heart.”

How many times have you walked though something & questioned: “God, do you see what is happening to me?!” “Why aren’t You answering or moving like I had asked?!” When the reality is, God has always been aware, He sees, and He knows — but He also doesn’t always respond how we expected. In the midst of the uncertainty we can trust His character — He is the same yesterday, today, and forever, and when we can’t determine what His hands are doing, we can trust His heart.

Then, in verse 22, David says: “You heard the voice of my pleas for mercy, when I cried to You for help.” When God’s response to our prayer is not as we expected, it’s not because He didn’t hear us, but because He has a greater purpose to fulfill that we are most likely unaware of. Sometimes all we can see is the loss, pain, hurt, and ache but this Psalm assures us that God hears our every cry. On this side of eternity we may never know how He is accomplishing a greater purpose through the pain, but He promises to give us the mercy we need to walk through the unexpected, and His mercies are new every morning.

Lastly, David declares: “Be strong, & let your heart take courage, all you who wait for the Lord!” I believe there will never be a point in our lives when we are not waiting for something. . . God knows the things we long and pray for but there have been times where the Lord has shown me that I am not waiting for HIM but for what HE can DO; there’s a big difference. At times it’s easy for the two to become blurred, especially when you’re waiting and praying for something this is good and something you believe He desires for you. But in this verse David encourages us to be strong and take courage. Why? Because waiting can cause us to grow weak and discouraged in our faith; but in the waiting we also learn that only God can fill the longing we have and only His living water can quench the thirst of our souls. I read this the other day & it was such an encouragement to my soul: “If we are so focused on what God isn’t doing — we will miss out on what He IS doing.” How true is that?! Don’t allow what God is not doing to make you miss out on all that He is doing!

As you wait, dear friend, don’t forget: God sees, He knows, He hears. Trust Him, surrender your future to Him, wait on Him today, and walk in the new mercies He has for you day-by-day. Be strong and take courage, He is near.

“Have you not known?
Have you not heard?
The everlasting God, the Lord,
The Creator of the ends of the earth,
Neither faints nor is weary.
His understanding is unsearchable.
He gives power to the weak,
And to those who have no might He increases strength.
Even the youths shall faint and be weary,
And the young men shall utterly fall,
But those who wait on the Lord
Shall renew their strength;
They shall mount up with wings like eagles,
They shall run and not be weary,
They shall walk and not faint.”
– Isaiah 40:28-31

“Perhaps maybe for a
reason you cannot see,
God wants you to wait”

enter His rest.

9 ” There remains therefore a rest for the people of God. 
10  For he who has entered His rest has himself also ceased from his works as God did from His. “
– Hebrews 4:9-10

In Christ, we can echo the words He cried on the cross — “it is finished.” (John 19:30)

That phrase tells me that HE DID IT, so I don’t have to: He bought salvation for me. I could never earn it and now I can rest in His completed work.

I. Can. Rest.

We. Can. Rest.

Every world religion preaches: “Do!” “Earn!” “Work!” “Not enough!”
While God says: “Done.” “Finished.” “Paid.” “Forgiven.”

While I was destined to be lost in my sin, separated from Him forever, He paid the debt I owed, made a way, and rescued me when I was helpless to save myself.

I stood condemned and guilty, but Jesus took my place and died the death I deserved. There’s no better news than the gospel. It never gets old.

So, whatever we may suffer on this side of eternity; it pales in comparison with the glory of spending eternity with our Savior.

If God allowed His only beloved Son to suffer, how can we expect to live a life free of sorrow or pain?? While many celebrity “pastors” preach a message of “wealth, prosperity, health, & comfort” — one look at our precious Savior dying on a tree tells me that you can be in the center of God’s perfect will, walking in complete obedience and submission to Him…and suffer greatly. Hebrews 5:8-9 points out how Jesus obeyed His Father by going to the cross:

8 “Even though Jesus was God’s Son, He learned obedience from the things He suffered. 9 In this way, God qualified Him as a perfect High Priest, and He became the source of eternal salvation for all those who obey Him.” (NLT)

Christ’s death tells me that God is still working and writing a story of redemption in the most hopeless and darkest night. He is fully in control of the outcome, even when it’s different than we had imagined and we can trust that it’s always better than what we had in mind.

We have the promise that He will never leave or forsake us in our pain. (Hebrews 13:15)
You may feel lonely but you are never alone.
Rest in the finished work of the cross.
You no longer have to work for acceptance or approval.
Stop striving & comparing. Fighting for what He already died to give you.

“Peace I leave with you; My peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled & do not be afraid.” – John 14:27

As we start a new week, enter it resting & rejoicing in Jesus: knowing that He rose again & is alive in you. 

The work is finished.
And we are simply called to rest and walk in light of that glorious truth.

“There’s never season,
Never a place,
Where I am alone,
Where You don’t show Your face
Right here I remember
How could I forget?
Your faithfulness has never left me.

Where would I be without You?
Where would I be without Your love?
I’m amazing by all You have done.

Where would I be without You?
Where would I be without Your love?
I can’t say ‘Thank You!’ enough.”

– Where Would I Be (The Belonging Co.)