Even if the Mountains Move

Are you shaking yet? If not, turn on the news for a moment. You will see the things happening outside our thick walls. You won't believe your eyes, or maybe you will. I used to avoid the news like the plague because my mind would run with the what if's until paranoia set in. Always absurd and irrational but so real in my head. So I would avoid any bad news in hopes that ignoring it meant that it didn't exist. Is it possible that we can spend our lives living in fear of the what if's?

I start my 3rd year of college next week. How did that happen? and even still, as an adult I can get consumed by the what if's. Still absurd and irrational but seem a little more likely than a car flying through the second story of my house killing me and everyone else (not kidding, real fear I had). Now the what if's include getting a job, finding community, and doing well in school.

It would be easy to jump to my old habit of living in fear. I would control everything (or try to) and in the end I would realize that it was completely futile. From that, you feel helpless and hopeless. but that's not my story & that's not yours either.

Because we have this hope - strong as a cast iron anchor - it doesn't break or sink when the seas get rough or when the what if's seem all-consuming. Even God says to Isaiah, "Though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, yet my unfailing love for you will never be shaken or my covenant of peace removed."

This world can leave us shaking right down to our boots with the uncertainty it holds while continuing to advertise safety. Movies and books can give us outlandish what if's and we can become so fearful of the unknown that we stop moving. We just stop right there in our tracks afraid to move forward or back. We hang on to everything so tightly, but in the end, it's futile. This doesn't mean that we have to avoid those things (because really that's just another form of paralyzation). Instead, we can choose to fight for the hope that secures our armor. We no longer have to be scared of the enemy  if we choose faith over fear. Easier said than done right? but What if we believed Gods words for Isaiah were just as much for him as they were for us? What if we believed with unshakeable conviction that his love will carry us through this mess we live in?

I think we'd worry less and start resting more. I think peace would overflow instead of anxiety. I think we'd realize that changing this world starts by our hearts changing and that has nothing to do with our actions, but everything to do with all the actions taken for us by the one who created us.

Open your eyes to the fullness of what God is doing. It may seem dark, but scripture says even that is like light to Him. Walk not in your own confidence, but in the confidence of God. No matter what the sea may hold, His anchor is steady.

We can play the what if's over and over again in our heads - but we're just missing out on His glory breaking in here & now. I can worry over community and good grades and being perfect or I can trust that God is with me. We can believe that this whole world is going to hell & a hand basket or we can choose to believe that hope is rising and God's not going anywhere even if the mountains do.

Em