You have to learn to live life in the middle of the danger. And trust that there's a bigger plan.

Don't for one minute think that God has forgotten you or doesn't have your back. And don't base God's love or desire to help you on your opinion of yourself. Base it on who God says he is.

Fear had its own power, and the more I did nothing, the greater my fear would grow. But I had to remember two things. First, if I wanted to be free, then I had to stop being a victim and fight back with everything inside me. And second, that God never intended me to fight my battles alone.~ Ned (pg 216)

She never considered that her mother's leaving could cause her to be stuck in a sort of darkness, afraid to move. Yeah, she needed the sunrise like she needed breath.

The difference is Gabe lets God fight his battles. He lets God work in people's lives, and he lets them be human. Trusting God protects him, gives him the courage to risk opening his heart and let out love. He knows he is safely in God's shelter. He won't crumble if your father, or even you, let him down. God will hold him up.

I'm saying that we don't know how God protects us. How he is there for us, but he is. We live our life seeing only our perspective—seeing our circumstances and judging God by what happens to us. But what if we judged God by what didn't happen to us? What if we started asking . . . God, what is your view? What did you protect me from?

And hello, maybe you're exactly where you are supposed to be...maybe God used your issues to give you exactly what you wanted.

That's not the answer. We don't stop living life just because bad things can, or will, happen. We just keep going forward, trusting in God's plan for us, even if bad things happen. God is still there, still in control. Still saving us. Still protecting us.

People love gospel music. It's calming. It's soothing. It gets right to the point of whatever you're dealing with.

When we're in trouble, it's usually a line from a song that saves us. I wish it was sermons, but, I'm sorry, it's not. When you're in crisis, what comes to mind is 'O love that would not let me go.' You know?

I closed my eyes to hug him tighter and give him that elusive feeling of unconditional love and complete safety. The feeling we seek but, in this life and in this world, perhaps never quite find.

Don't pray for the rain to stop; pray for good luck fishing when the river floods.