I underestimate God. It is a mistake that I make too often.
I feel my situations are enormous. The circumstances I face with my daughter with special and medical needs are challenging and scary. The fear and stress feel justified.
My daughter gets distressed when her routine changes, which stresses me. I now dread times when her routine will be changed—for both of us. I know other parents who can relate to that feeling.
My daughter has been hospitalized many times for recurring lung infections. She's needed high levels of respiratory support—twice she needed a ventilator—for what started out as a simple cold virus. Now, whenever my daughter has a little cough, fear swells up in me. I fear the home interventions won't be enough to support her breathing, as we fight respiratory symptoms. Surely, anyone in my situation would feel this same way. I try to justify it, but it doesn’t make such fear right.
Recently, I found myself in another battle with fear. I opened up my Bible randomly to Psalm 46 and read:
God is our refuge and strength,
A very present help in trouble.
Therefore we will not fear,
Even though the earth be removed,
And though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea;
Though its waters roar and be troubled,
Though the mountains shake with its swelling. Selah
There is a river whose streams shall make glad the city of God,
The holy place of the tabernacle of the Most High.
God is in the midst of her, she shall not be moved;
God shall help her, just at the break of dawn.
The nations raged, the kingdoms were moved;
He uttered His voice, the earth melted. (Psalm 46:1-6 NKJV)
Can you imagine not being afraid if mountains were carried into the sea? Is it possible to be fearless if the world around us literally crumbled? God says it is possible.
There are times when life as I know it suddenly changes. The unknown of life can certainly bring distress. When my daughter's health is in jeopardy, the ground beneath me shakes continually. Fear surrounds me in those times. Yet God wants to remind me of the bigger picture.
God is greater than our fears and circumstances. Even when nothing seems safe or comfortable, we can find assurance in the God who is faithful through anything. God is the part of life that is unchanging. That simple truth is something I need to be reminded of from time to time. We have access to a powerful God, so there shouldn't be a reason to fear.
I pray that today you too can be reminded that God is our refuge, strength, and help in ANY circumstance. Fear is never justified.
Evana is a wife and mother of two children. Since becoming a parent, Evana has spent many hours driving to specialty appointments, praying beside a hospital bed, and learning about her children’s diagnoses. Evana is also a pediatric speech-language pathologist and serves children with autism, feeding disorders, and other developmental delays. You can connect with Evana on Twitter, Facebook, and her blog, A Special Purposed Life. You can also read more about her family’s story in her book, Badges of Motherhood: One Mother’s Story about Family, Down syndrome, Hospitals, and Faith.
