Tomorrow I will drive my two young daughters over the (stunning! amazing!) Bozeman Pass: Our time in Bozeman will be brief—just enough time to tour the Museum of the Rockies with my best friend and her daughter—and then to steal away her daughter for a five-day visit. You would think I would only be happy and excited about this trip. But this morning on my walk with Lilikoi (our Golden Retriever), I was besieged by all sorts of (extremely) irrational fears related to the drive: What if I just jerk the wheel of my SUV at 75 mph and we roll and crash and all die? What if I change…

I really appreciated Dave’s post today: Paralyzed by Endings? Mind Present Duties and then Leave Events to God And the CCEF FaceBook update that followed it by just a few minutes: “Can you understand why you worry when you think about tomorrow? You worry because you don’t have what you need yet. If you imagine tomorrow’s misery without tomorrow’s manna, of course you are going to worry. Tomorrow’s manna isn’t on the ground yet. You have manna for today only. In his great wisdom, God doesn’t give you tomorrow’s manna today. Otherwise you would forget him and trust in yourself.” – Ed Welch, “When I Am Afraid” (found by CCEF…

I had two bad (understatement) experiences flying home on Sunday. The first started out fairly low-level … an oversized man was pouring over the armrest between us on a tiny airplane. I tried my best to lean way out into the aisle to avoid having his body pressed up against mine, but it was to no avail. Plus, he wasn’t even trying to stay in his own space AND he was eating some huge, meaty, onion-y sandwich while drinking a soda while eating Cheetos. It was extremely gross and violating and I thought about trying to get the flight attendant to make an announcement to see if anyone would change…

In John 14:27, Jesus says: Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid. 1 Peter 1:3 says: Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead … Dave Edling says: The biblical term ‘hope’ is NOT the ‘wishful thinking’ of the world. Hope is the confident expectation of future blessing based on the facts and promises of God’s Word. The…

Just when I’m tempted to think I’m alone in my fears, I stumble onto just a few of the things women shared with me in 2011 at my “Fear Not” retreats. I summarize all of the feedback cards that I receive at each event. Listen to the content of just one sticky note summary: – I’m afraid of being alone. – I’m afraid of never being married. – I’m afraid of what people think of me. I’m so lonely. – I fear rejection. – I fear loneliness. – I fear I will fail my friends and family and they will reject me.  – I fear reaching out to people and…

Today I received some relatively scary news for our family. (I hesitate to use the term “scary” because a) it wasn’t a diagnosis of fatal disease or the loss of a loved one; and b) my coauthor, Dave Edling, hated that word and always called me on it whenever I accidentally used it in our work on Redeeming Church Conflicts. I believe his exact words were, “I only use the word scary when I’m reading a nighttime story to my grandchildren.” Hah. I guess that’s what active deployment in two wars AND 20 years as a pastor will prepare you for.) Nevertheless, my heart raced. My mind began to spin.…

If I weren’t so tired, I would’ve found it a little funny that my really bad night of insomnia apparently was punctuated by some brief times of REM sleep, because then I had nightmares about being awake with insomnia. Pathetic! But such is life. I keep thinking of the end of the last session of my Fear Not! retreat: Sleep in Peace—God is Awake!  ‘I have set the Lord always before me; because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken. Therefore my heart is glad, and my whole being rejoices; my flesh also dwells secure.’ Psalm 16:8-9 If only my subconscious mind would get the message…

If you are a friend of mine on FaceBook, then you already know that I was pretty freaked out yesterday. It had to do with my need to take four hour-long sessions from my standard Fear Not retreat and turn them into two thirty-minute sessions and one 45 minute session. Can you say slash and burn? I was trying so hard to delete delete delete. But with each passing hour, I became more and more anxious. Nice, eh? Fear, worry, and anxiety AS I’m studying God’s Word re: His sovereignty, goodness, and immanence. True irony. (And a true reflection of just how far I still have to go in life’s…

Ed Welch: The Secret to Dealing with Fear and Anxiety Monergism.com’s resources on topic: Worry, Fear and Anxiety But don’t forget! Tim Keller’s take:   (#27) “Praying our Fears” and (Resources on) Fear and Anxiety And the piece de resistance: David Powlison’s ANTI-Psalm 23  

This just excellent! A Game Plan for When You Worry Thanks, Justin Taylor and David Powlison and Freddy B. (my beloved!) for pointing me to this great summary from David Powlison’s four-part series.