Faith in God helped black Americans endure slavery and Jim Crow.

Have faith have faith. When you have nothing else have faith.

But God doesn't call us to be comfortable. He calls us to trust Him so completely that we are unafraid to put ourselves in situations where we will be in trouble if He doesn't come through.

Once we have found this secret place in God, nothing we encounter in life can truly defeat us; God Himself preserves us in all things. In every distress or devilish plot aligned against us, we emerge as "more than conquerors" (Rom. 8:37, KJV). In God's shelter, the redemptive power of Christ reverses the plans of Satan, annulling both the assault of the enemy and its after effects.

I'm for whatever gets you through the night.

In this dedication of a Nation we humbly ask the blessing of God. May he protect each and every one of us. May He guide me in the days to come.

The only thing we have to fear is the FEAR itself.

The sorrow of God lies in our fear of Him, our fear of life, and our fear of ourselves. He anguishes over our self-absorption and self-sufficiency... God's sorrow lies in our refusal to approach Him when we sinned and failed.

Charles de Foucauld, the found of the Little Brothers of Jesus, wrote a single sentence that's ahad a profound impact on my life. He said, "The one thing we owe absolutely to God is never to be afraid of anything." Never to be afraid of anything, even death, which, after all, is but that final breakthrough into the open, waiting, outstretched arms of Abba.

When we get waylaid from our walk with God by busyness, depression, family problems, or worse, God does not abandon us.

We need a new kind of relationship with the Father that drives out fear and mistrust and anxiety and guilt, that permits us to be hopeful and joyous, trusting and compassionate.

Winston Churchill said it well: "Success is never final; failure is never fatal. It is courage that counts.