There's an antidote to our fears- trust. If we trust God more,we can fear less.

You'll get through this. You fear you won't. We all do. We fear that the depression will never lift, the yelling will never stop, the pain will never leave. Here in the pits, surrounded by steep walls and angry brothers, we wonder, Will this gray sky ever brighten? This load ever lighten? We feel stuck, trapped, locked in. Predestined for failure. Will we ever exit this pit? Yes! Deliverance is to the Bible what jazz music is to Mardi Gras: bold, brassy, and everywhere.

Fear corrodes our confidence in God's goodness. We begin to wonder if love lives in heaven. If God can sleep in our storms, if his eyes stay shut when our eyes grow wide, if he permits storms after we got on his boat, does he care? Fear unleashes a swarm of doubts, anger-stirring doubts. Fear at its center, is a perceived loss of control.

You may not be down to your final heartbeat, but you may be down to your last paycheck, solution, or thimble of faith. Each sunrise seems to bring fresh reasons for fear

Sustaining grace promises not the absence of struggle but the presence of God.

At the beginning of every act of faith, there is often a seed of fear.

God has given us peace in our pain. He covers us all the time. Even when we are out of control, he is still there.

When Jesus says he will keep you safe, he means it. Hell will have to get through him to get to you.

God never promises to remove us from our struggles. He does promise, however, to change the way we look at them.

Repeat it to yourself over and over until it trumps the voices of fear and angst. The LORD your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in your, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over your with singing (Zeph. 3:17 NIV)

Pieces don't fit. Wine runs out. Water bottles burst. These are facts of life. But Jesus responds with this invitation: "Bring your problems to me.

Personally? I think there's more going on around us than we realize. I think God uses even the bad and ugly things in this world to lead us to a good place.