real space.

What if your biggest fear came true?

My friend and co-worker, Peter Gowesky, above, took this question and dissected it with our church just a few short weeks ago. He knows all about his biggest fear coming true. I hope you take the time to listen to this excellent message.

I ask myself that question almost daily. Not because I want to be miserable all the time, but to be prepared. To daily give it to God and pray Your will be done.

Does that make it easier? No. Honestly, I’m mortified of some of my fears. I know myself. If my biggest fears happen, without God’s help, I would not survive it.

This happens to be a signature weakness of mine. I fear more than trust. I am a “glass half-empty” kind of gal. I fear the worst, I expect the worst, I believe the worst. Adam is ten minutes late… he’s dead. No other explanation. What a horrible thought process, right? Talk about having anxiety. It is a non-stop, ongoing, daily process to take my fears, anxieties and worries and give them to God. I simply would go insane if I didn’t. Not to mention many have a persona of me to be very laid back, which I am, but often because there is so much billowing up inside I become more shutdown on the outside!

Like my honesty here? It’s the truth. My mind is flooded, which would make you think I’d be all over the place, but it’s the opposite. When your mind is constant, it tends to make you go blank outwardly because you’re always trying to filter through your own thoughts. At least that’s the case for me. Is this making sense to anyone? Hence why writing is easier for me. I can sit and calculate every thought.

See, I really need God. 

Relying on God has to begin all over again, everyday, as if nothing had yet been done. – C.S. Lewis

Truth. Everyday is new and brings new troubles. Why not let God worry about what we cannot control?

I find it mind-boggling when someone tells me they don’t have a belief in any kind of higher power. Whether it’s God or not. To me, that’s bold. In a way, they have more faith than I do because I’m like … Do you have the answers to life? How do you do that? That’s crazy frightening to me to think this life is all I get and I have no basis for meaning. So then, this is all there is for you? Where do you turn when things go horribly wrong? 

Many see God as a crutch for weak people. You know what? It is. I’m weak. I’ll take it. I’m limping.

I listened to a sermon once and for the life of me I cannot remember who it was or whom he was speaking about when he told a story of another prominent female pastor who struggled with similar anxieties I struggle with. Her biggest fear was losing her husband. It absolutely haunted her. One day, when wrestling in prayer with God, she felt God prompt her and literally ask, So what if it does? … What?? How can God even ask that?! After collecting herself, a conversation ensued (and I’m paraphrasing her words here).

Well, I would be devastated. I would be angry with you. I wouldn’t get out of bed and I would cry all day, everyday for an entire month – I won’t do anything. I will feel like I want to die.

And then what?

Well, I’d stay in bed and cry for a whole other month and feel like I want to die.

And then what?

Umm, well, maybe I’d get up and shower, but then I’d still won’t leave my house for another month!

And then what?

Maybe I’d begin to breathe again, step outside for a moment, let people care for me. But I’d still want nothing to do with you.

And then what?

I think you see where this is going. God continued and profusely asked “And then what?” over and over again, until she landed on Him.

Finding my way back to you, through your Word and Love, I would find peace and rest, as you strengthen me and help me move forward with my life.

Exactly.

When I first heard this story, chills went up and down my spine. God sat there and worked through all her fears by just asking the simple question, So what if it does?

So what if it does? Every time my fears creep into my mind and my anxieties begin to overwhelm me, I think of this story. And ask myself, So what if it does?

God is not a God of It never will. He’s a God of So what if it does? Jesus himself promises us trouble (See John 16:33). But he doesn’t stop there. He has overcome the world… And then what? 

You see, he already knows the answer. The answer is Him.

What if your biggest fear came true? Would you trust God to bring you through it? Have you ever asked yourself, So what if it does?

Let me ask you… So what if it does??

And then what?