“But Jesus spoke to them at once,  “Don’t be afarid,” he said. “Take courage. I am here!”-
Matthew 14:27(where it is found in the Bible).  This was my verse that I journaled on today.

This was said during the story of Jesus walking on water in the middle of the storm and his disciples are terrified and think he is a ghost.

This was a good reminder to not live in fear.  God is for me and is with me.  I can wake up some mornings and be filled with worry.

Worry is essentially fear because I fear something will not turn out how I hope.  There are verses that tell us not to worry.  But I did not realize worry and fear are like the same thing.

Do not fear is the most repeated command in the entire Bible.  It is in there over 200 times.  God knows our tendency to fear things and outcomes.  He knows our tendency to want to control our outcomes, people around us and our circumstances.

But to worry is to live in fear.

The opposite is to have a quiet peace and trust that God is in control and can handle whatever I am fearing.  I have some friends who radiate this peace and it is soothing just to be around them and their steadfast faith.

I can tend to dwell on something, allowing fear to consume me or eat me up.  It can be the first thing I think of and the last thing on my mind when falling asleep.

One of my favorite verses is 1 Peter 5:7, “Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.”  Another translation says “give all your worries to God” or cast your cares on him.

1. Definiton for cast:  throw (something) forcefully in a specified direction.

   “lemmings cast themselves off the cliff”

   synonyms:

   throw, toss, fling, pitch, hurl, lob; More

   • Looking up a word helps me so much.  So this imagery is to to chuck your worries at God.  I love how it says to forcefully throw.

My prayer in my SOAP(search soap on my blog for more info) journal:  Jesus help me to take courage and know you are here with me.  Help me to lob my worries to you and trust you can carry them and me.