Swallow Your Fear

This is Sydney. She is five. Yesterday I was sitting in the car with her while her mother was shopping. We were having a very lively five-year-old discussion when out of the blue, she said, “Nana, did you know you can swallow your fear?”

Me: “Swallow your fear? How?”

I watched as she inhaled, expanded her chest very wide, and exhaled very dramatically.

Then Sydney said, “That’s how you do it. You take in a big huge breath, swallow, and blow out the fire.”

Me: “Fire?”

She gave me that look. It’s the look that glares, “You are the adult and should know all these things”.

When I didn’t respond, she shrugged her shoulders and explained, “The fire is fear.”

Me: “Who told you all this?”

Scrunching up her lips in total exasperation, she announced, “Mommy tells me to breathe when I get upset. When I do, I swallow my tears. Then I feel better. So when I get scared at night, I breathe in the fear, swallow it, and then I blow the fire out. That’s the scary part of fear. Then it’s all gone.”

Sydney immediately diverted her attention away from me and on to something else. I sat back and pondered her words. Yep, leave it to a kid to put you in your place.

Swallow your tears. Swallow your fears.

The Bible tells us, “For God gave us not the spirit of fearfulness, but of power and love and discipline.” (2 Timothy 1:7)

I think my granddaughter gave Nana a little lesson here.

Sydney listened to her mom. Her mom lovingly demonstrated to Sydney how to control (discipline) her emotions. She used that strategy to control her fear.

Maybe Sydney’s strategy has some credence. Breathe in deep, swallow the fear, and blow it out. When we blow fear out we get rid of it. It no longer consumes us.  

I turned around and got Sydney’s attention. “Do you think God grabs that fear when you blow it out?”

Shrugging her shoulders again she declared, “Who else would get it?”

Sometimes it pays to hang around children. You never know what good advice you’ll get.

God bless you

Cries of Grace

Jesus Conqueror of Sin

This was written so beautifully that I wanted to share it with you. I’ve been reading this devotional every day since 1989, and I never grow tired of it.

Hope you enjoy. Blessings, Angela

What was the power and influence that changed the cross from an instrument of bloody torture into the most glorious and beloved of all symbols? The Romans had crucified thousands of people before and after Calvary. If Jesus had not risen from the dead, no right-minded person would have glorified anything so hideous and repulsive as a cross stained with the blood of Jesus. By the miracle of His rising from the grave, Jesus placed the seal of assurance upon the forgiveness of our sins. A dead Christ could not have been our Savior. An unopened grave would never have opened heaven. By bursting the chains of the tomb, Jesus proved Himself to all ages the conqueror of sin. The sacrifice on Calvary had fulfilled its purpose; the ransom price paid for your sins and mine had been accepted by God. Hallelujah, what a Savior! 

Each time I see the empty cross, let me be reminded of Your suffering and Your victory, Lord Jesus.

(a reprint from Billy Graham’s Day By Day Devotional)

Faith Refining

I am a woman of faith. Every morning I eagerly seek God’s Word. I want it to wash over me before my day begins. When I leave my prayer area I am filled with joy. I truly believe this daily routine sets up a buffer of God’s words around me that helps me navigate all the issues and trials that will come up during the day. Historically it has proven to be an anchor and even in the worse storm the anchor has always held.

Six months ago, my husband and I began a move from North Carolina to Virginia. The whole experience toppled my routine. There were mornings when I could not go to my sacred place to worship, and other mornings when there was no sacred place to be found. There were days upon days of chaos and disorder. Everything turned upside down. I began to wonder if the anchor would hold?

I found myself waking up frayed and testy, unnerved and unhinged. Nothing felt right. Nothing was in the right place. Even my prayer time was disconnected and disjointed. My thoughts were scattered. Anger and frustration rose at unnecessary times. But it was the unrest that seemed to bind me up the most. I couldn’t concentrate on anything, not even prayer. And worse yet, I failed to fully enjoy the magnitude of my blessings.

One day I left all the work behind and found a quiet corner. Crying out, I began to wonder if a move could topple years of commitment to my Savior, Jesus. As I sat in utter grief, I began to realize it wasn’t just the move that had been disturbed; it was my order of life that had been uprooted. I used to have a set place to pray and a set place to study. Was my faith that rigid and ordered? The thought caused me to gasp.

Immediately, I began praying the name of Jesus, simply calling out His name in anguish until I was exhausted. Every day after that I did the same thing. It wasn’t easy. I had to purpose myself to sit stationary, even if it was around a bunch of boxes, and cry out to my Savior.

At one point, I asked God, “What do You want to accomplish in me? Teach me because I know this experience has not been in vain.”

It took weeks for the answer to come. And when it did I knew my faith had been rightly refined. God unsettled me to help me see He was everywhere. I could pray anywhere. I didn’t always need study material or a Bible. I just needed Jesus.

I could say the move got easier after that, but it didn’t. What got easier was me. The anchor held in spite of the storm. It held because God needed me to focus on Him rather than outside circumstances or stringent practices. The anchor held because once again God took me through the fire to refine me and remind me that He is all I need. The need is every day, all day long. The need to be in His Word is also mobile. I’m learning to memorize verses to lean on and take with me.  

Are you going through a storm today? Cry out to Jesus. Say His name over and over again until you begin to feel the earth shift and your body yield to His wonderful grace and mercy. Ask God what He needs for you to learn. Then wait for God’s answer.

Jesus is the name above all names.

The anchor holds in spite of the storm.

God bless you always,