THE EPIDEMIC OF PANIC!

I hope you and yours are well regardless of what seems to be a bit of a mass panic going on around us these days.

To be crystal clear, this article is NOT about “to stay home or not to stay home”…this article is addressing fear and panic and how regardless of what building you are in, or where you choose to stay or go, that being gripped by fear and choosing that over faith is no way to live and how to combat that monster!

I don’t like getting wrapped up in the “issues of the day” but felt I could ignore this one no longer.

I want to explain to you a little bit about what I believe we are forgetting as a country, and why we are a bit spoiled with our perspective.

First off, let me give you a little backstory for anyone here that is new and doesn’t know a part of my story. Here is the very abbreviated version. I have in my life thus far: attempted suicide, lived in my car, seen and touched death, disease, and heartbreak on a daily basis when I was an EMT, had serious marriage struggles early on in our marriage, became a caregiver to my mom when she became paralyzed in a car wreck for 7 years, lost 4 babies due to miscarriage, spiraled into a dark seemingly bottomless pit named depression, moved 11 times (so far) in 19 years of marriage, lost my mom and many friends, had serious financial struggles, and more lows as the list goes on.

BUT GOD!!!

I tell you all that, NOT AS A WOE IS ME THING, as I am FREE and have been redeemed and set free from those guilt, pains, and shame of the past through Christ! But, I say that to tell you that my faith-based stance on the subject matter of fear and panic doesn’t come from a superficial place that doesn’t know pain and suffering and desperation, ok?

So, let’s get down to the nitty-gritty. Let’s address the Elephant in the Room. And, it’s not what you may think. Despite the media telling you that the highlight of your fear reel should be a certain illness going around, it is not. The epidemic going around right now is panic and it’s highly contagious!

I fully believe as Americans, and other modernized countries as well that we have a very spoiled mentality of thinking things like, “Oh this is scary because I don’t know enough about it.” or “Oh this COULD kill me.”

I fully believe those 2 thought patterns, as innocent and normal as they may appear, can draw us into an unnecessary and scary pit that there can seem no way out of. I have been there where I have had these exact thoughts before in my life. Truly I have, but here is what I have come to learn, not because I am somehow special, because I am not, but only because The Lord graciously massaged it into my heart.

The fear of the Unknown is what I keep hearing a lot from people….we don’t know enough about it. OK…well that is true, right?

But, guess what? This is only ONE THING..ONE THING…that the media is letting you know about, and that God is allowing the media to know about that you don’t know enough about.

There are countless things out there that you and I don’t know about. To prove it I could list here things I know of as a former medical professional that would creep you out so bad you would never leave your house. But then what? You stay in your house forever until you die….so you basically choose to stop living. And, you aren’t guaranteed safety there either…a tree could fall on your house, or anything could happen. The reason I am so passionate about this is that I know what it is like to live in fear, but really that phrase is wrong because there is NO LIFE IN FEAR! People, there is stuff out there that would scare your pants off, but we walk around in bliss because we don’t know what we don’t know about it. Are we haughty enough to think that because we don’t know about it, it doesn’t exist?

Joshua 1:9 God actually COMMANDS US NOT TO FEAR, “Have I not COMMANDED YOU? Be strong and courageous. DO NOT BE AFRAID; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.”

At least you are allowed to know about this one. So, be careful, but shouldn’t you always? Clean things and yourself, but shouldn’t you always? Live your life with love and compassion considering others, but shouldn’t you always? Be proactive and not go crazy, but shouldn’t you always?

Galatians 6:5 reminds us, “For each will have to bear his own load.”

Ephesians 4:32 instructs us, “Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.”

So, what to do? Counteract the fear of the unknown with speaking truth like, “God knows it all. There is nothing new under the sun to Him. Nothing surprises God. He holds every single thing in the palm of His hand. He is on the throne and reigns now and forever. He has not changed. He will not change. He loves me so. He will take care of all the things. Whether or not I know about them is of no consequence. I have no power or control anyway. It all belongs to Him.”

Ecclesiastes 1:9 gets right to it! “What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun.”

“This COULD kill me” gets me every time. This one pierces me deep because it is such a silly and crazy notion and comes usually from people who haven’t stared death in the face and lost people. I am not saying this from a haughty perspective again, because I also have friends who are immune-compromised…one dear friend who has a kidney transplant from her mom and has to take multiple meds on a daily basis just to keep her immune system in balance.

So, again, what’s hard with typing and not hearing my voice is you can’t right now here the compassion in my voice. The reason “This COULD kill me” floors me every time is it almost seems somehow as Americans,  death is something so scary and so far off. In other countries, they stare death in the face every single moment of every single day and watch their children die due to lack of clean water. Am I somehow to believe that a death from a virus we are finding out about is somehow more sad and preventative than a small child dying from lack of clean water? NO! All death is sad. All of it is heartbreaking! All lives and deaths matter.

I love this beautiful soul balm massage that Psalm 116:15 gives us, “Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints.”

PEOPLE DIE EVERY SINGLE MOMENT OF EVERY SINGLE DAY AND FROM COUNTLESS THINGS. ONE DAY YOU WILL DIE….so we are called to LIVE like that my friend!

Psalm 146:2 sums up what we should be doing with our life while we still have it, “I will praise the Lord as long as I live; I will sing praises to my God while I have my being.”

To be honest with you, I can’t believe I am here today typing this to you and that myself and my beautiful daughters are alive. Yesterday (when I wrote this article which was about a week ago) I was making a left turn onto a road and out of nowhere I saw a streak and I slammed on my brakes and I heard metal scraping…then I looked up and 2 other car slammed on their brakes and were an angel’s wings away from smashing into the side of our vehicle. Turns out I was in the clear and a car speeding way too fast (probably 90 or more) was flying around cars way beyond where I could see and out of nowhere was upon me and that was the streak I saw and thankfully when I slammed on my brakes the cars around me were able to in time as well. We all sat there for a second (not the speeder of course) staring at each other in a knowing type of sense that we were all thankful to be there.

People who are real and have families and loved ones and make an impact on the world die every single day.

The issue is not our lack of power or control of the situation (the fear of the unknown), or the fear that it could kill us.

The issue is that we actually are self deceived into believing with all the self help books out there that we have any control over anything (except ourselves).

So, I close with asking a question…how far are you willing to trust God? How far are you willing to throw it all in for Him? How much do you believe He truly loves you and would never harm you? Are you living for Him? Do you know that one day you and I WILL die…there is not an IF….none of us are getting out of dying. I could have died yesterday in a car wreck, but you probably wouldn’t have heard about it because the media decides what they want you to know about. Don’t give yourself, mind, and soul over to the world and what it tells you…God is so much bigger than any virus or illness, the media, the pain and suffering of the world.

Psalm 55:22, “Cast your burden on the Lord, and He will sustain you; He will never permit the righteous to be moved.”

2 TIMOTHY 1:7, “For God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.”

I will leave you with a little thing that God laid on my heart recently and pray that you are able to find some peace, and even joy during this time.

We are also praying for everyone’s jobs out there that are struggling or are in jeopardy. Let’s do all we can to support the businesses and economy during this time. There are some really great ideas out there like buying gift cards at restaurants and stuff like that. I won’t hate you for shopping for my book on Amazon or for printables in our little online store either! Ha!

But I will say this, there are other people that are already struggling with real issues, whether its mental, physical, spiritual, financial, or any other realm. When we magnify ONE thing and put all our focus on that, those people’s sufferings can get lost in the shuffle and that’s no way to behave as a believer. So, here is a little article I wrote a while back to encourage anyone that may be suffering with other things right now. You are NOT forgotten. Your pain is not lost!

A BIG SHOUT OUT THANK YOU TO FEEDSPOT.COM FOR CHOOSING US FOR A SPOT IN THEIR LIST OF TOP 50 POSITIVITY BLOGS!  NEED SOME MORE POSITIVITY IN YOUR LIFE? CHECK OUT THEIR LIST OF FOR EVEN MORE INSPIRATION!

Comment below with what you are doing during this time. I am going to work on lots of new articles and printables as well as getting some work done in my garden. I am also going to be working on continually getting settled and unpacked from our recent move!

Need some PEACE during this storm? Re-direct your focus on Jesus and all we have been given!  Check out our latest book all about Gratitude and eyes to see God everywhere!

And, if you end up NOT wanting to throw it in the burn pile, please give us a review on Amazon as it makes it easier for others searching for it to find (something about the algorithms of it all).  THIS IS THE TIME for encouragement, perspective-shifting, and inspiration!  Need it quick?  It’s also available in the Kindle and Nook version.