John 14:27 NLT
Recently some of us at SFC Canada joined with other SFC USA chapters to help staff and run youth snowboard and ski camps in Lynchburg, Virginia. Travel is always a bit stressful for me, and I often struggle with fear and anxiety: What if my snowboard bag didn’t make it, or what if I didn’t make one of my flights? The journey from Calgary to Lynchburg proved to be a full day of busy flights. When I finally landed in Lynchburg, I went to go grab my snowboard bag. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find it. After anxiously looking around the little airport for a while, an attendant confirmed my fear: there had been no snowboard bag on the plane. My bag of valuable gear was now lost somewhere without any record of where it was.
I am leaving you with a gift – peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So don’t be troubled and afraid. John 14:27 NLT
In this season of my life, God has been revealing the fears in my life and has been challenging the ways in which these fears are rooted in a lack of faith and trust. Days before, I came across this passage as I was reading in John.
Losing a bag really isn’t that bad and is easily fixable. God was merciful to give me a great opportunity to see the fears in my own life and then realize the ways that He had met me in those areas to provide peace.
A song we often sing at my local church contains the line, “I am no longer a slave to fear, for I am a child of God.” This line always seems to bounce around in the back of my mind– especially as I hike a street rail. What a powerful and freeing statement of identity; by virtue of being children of the Most-High God, we don’t need to fear any situation which comes our way.
I still struggle to trust God, which I think will be a lifelong battle for me. But along the way as I’ve experienced God meeting me in my times of need, I’ve gradually gotten a taste of what it means to rest in God’s greater peace.
Challenge
What are some of the fears you experience in your own life?
Are these fears legitimate? Are they based on things which are reality and fact?
What are some ways that you could move forward in surrendering your fear over to God?
By Zach Creighton | Calgary, Canada