Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour. Stand firm against him, and be strong in your faith. Remember that your family of believers all over the world is going through the same kind of suffering you are. – 1 Peter 5:8-9

I’ve been wrestling with this silly truth for a while now. Well, for almost precisely six years now, to be exact. It’s a wish I hold dear to my heart, one I can’t seem to let go of no matter if it’s a good day or a bad one.

I wish, with all my heart, that I was crazy. I wish I was nutty as a loon, and a hypochondriac to boot. I wish I was the laziest insane person that ever was born.

Because being a hypochondriac makes you a very disturbed person. But better to be disturbed than chronically ill.

Because being lazy makes you a despicable human being. But better to be despicable than suffering in pain.

Because being crazy means you need lots of help and maybe a padded room, but it doesn’t steal your life from you a breath at a time, right before your eyes.

So many doctors accuse us of being exactly these things. Over and over and over again. Sometimes our families wonder. Our friends whisper. And lets be honest, we ourselves have wondered if it’s true more than once or twice. We’ve tested ourselves to make certain this isn’t all cooked up in our imaginations.

It’s sad, terribly sad, when we wish with all our heart to be crazy.

Do you know where this wish comes from, Dear One? I do. It comes from fear. Plain and simple.

Fear doesn’t come from God.

Such love has no fear, because perfect love expels all fear. If we are afraid, it is for fear of punishment, and this shows that we have not fully experienced his perfect love. – 1 John 4:18

It comes straight from that old devil. He keeps using the same old ploys because they work so well. Fear is one of his favorites. He’s a roaring lion, alright.

Want some good news, fellow wishers?

God’s got his number. He knows exactly what to do with lions. He knows what our great faith can do. And that’s only the beginning…

How much more do I need to say? It would take too long to recount the stories of the faith of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel, and all the prophets. By faith these people overthrew kingdoms, ruled with justice, and received what God had promised them. They shut the mouths of lions, quenched the flames of fire, and escaped death by the edge of the sword. Their weakness was turned to strength. They became strong in battle and put whole armies to flight. Women received their loved ones back again from death.

But others were tortured, refusing to turn from God in order to be set free. They placed their hope in a better life after the resurrection. Some were jeered at, and their backs were cut open with whips. Others were chained in prisons. Some died by stoning, some were sawed in half, and others were killed with the sword. Some went about wearing skins of sheep and goats, destitute and oppressed and mistreated. They were too good for this world, wandering over deserts and mountains, hiding in caves and holes in the ground.

All these people earned a good reputation because of their faith, yet none of them received all that God had promised. For God had something better in mind for us, so that they would not reach perfection without us. – Hebrews 11:32-40

This fear that makes us wishers… let’s kick that to the curb today. The lion’s mouth can be shut. It will be shut. God has something better in mind for us. Both here and in eternity.

So you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead, you received God’s Spirit when he adopted you as his own children. Now we call him, “Abba, Father.” – Romans 8:15

Fear not…

Holy God, renew our faith. Revive our hope and remind us of our sanity. Thank You for always believing in us. In Jesus’ Name, Amen…

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May God Bless You,

Shelly