Adrenalin! Panic! PEACE!

Bam!  The crisis hits!!  What is our reaction?  

Adrenalin begins pumping, the pit of our stomachs drops out, our hearts beat our minds race, running scenarios of how we will handle the situation, our lungs pant our minds race again running sample conversations in our heads (anyone else do that?) we somehow withdraw to analyze it all within yet our eyes dart around to search for escape without, more adrenalin we fret we pace restlessly...


Take a BREATH!  Whew!  And how many times a day do these situations arise, between work, and dealing with people, and children, and pets, frozen pipes, the economic worries of the times, and on and on?


In the past 16 months or so, I've had a lot of practice with panic.  Finding a lump in my breast 8 months after a clean mammogram was a shock.  But it's interesting to me to look back in my life and see some of the ways that God had prepared the way for me to grow in my ability to handle the crisis.


Small bits, like remembering a story about a 4 year old boy whose parents taught him a Bible verse to comfort him when he needed surgery ("When I am afraid, I will trust in You."  Ps 56:3).  Here's a verse so short and easy a child can memorize it--and so did I!  I can't tell you how very many times I repeated THAT one over and over.  


Do you ever play "what if" scenes through in your mind?  For instance, you are walking down a dark street, what would you do if...?  I can remember vaguely thinking, but recurringly, what I would do if I were in a bad accident.  When I had my icy encounter with the semi in 2005, I went spinning down into the median saying, "God, help me, God, help me!" (Romans 10:13 "Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.")  Here I am--and I don't have that particular recurring thought anymore.  Was God preparing me, having me practice in a way, for what was to come?

God has placed teachers, family, and friends within my world, who were support to me when I couldn't support myself.  I have learned valuable lessons from people and situations, even the negative ones, and I am grateful for those lessons.  

One of the lessons is to trust God with my very life--indeed, Who gave life to me in the first place?

Philippians 4:6-7 Amplified Bible (AMP)

⁶Do not fret or have any anxiety about anything, but in every circumstance and in everything, by prayer and petition (definite requests), with thanksgiving, continue to make your wants known to God.    ⁷And God's peace [shall be yours, that tranquil state of a soul assured of its salvation through Christ, and so fearing nothing from God and being content with its earthly lot of whatever sort that is, that peace] which transcends all understanding shall garrison and mount guard over your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.