panic.
If you live in Oklahoma or know anything about Oklahoma, then you know, we love storms! (I’m not a fan, but the weather doesn’t listen to me) Sometimes the weather comes in as rain, thunder, high winds, hail, and even tornadoes. I personally have a lot of “respect” for the weather! For some reason this year, the storms have come in later than normal. As I sat at my desk at the Pearl House office, I received a text from my youngest daughter’s school. It was a text communicating to all parents that they were watching the weather, and they might not dismiss students on time if it wasn’t safe. The weather apparently was coming in the same time the school was to let out. I got to school a little early to sit in the pick up line and be one of the first ones there. And didn’t realize I would have a front row seat to what happened next. So what happened next? Panic.
I watched the entire thing go down. Parents were panicking, trying to quickly get to the school to get their child out before the storm hit. I saw moms and dads literally throwing their car into park, if they could even find a parking spot, and quickly running inside to get their kid. I saw this ripple panic occur, where I even thought, “wait, should I be panicking?!” But instead, I decided to ask God to hold the storms off, to watch over us, and to send His peace. It got to one point though, where I thought my child might be the only one left in that school building. It seemed like every kid was being checked out early.
It got me thinking about how we do this so often in our own lives. Panic. We can quickly spiral, or even escalate, thinking about all that could possibly happen, all that we have to get done, all the responsibilities we have, and the list goes on. Panic. It’s a real thing and it’s a phenomenon we can inflict and spread to each other.
The Bible doesn’t necessarily use the word panic, but it does address the underlining issues of anxiety, fear, and worry. Proverbs 3:5 tells us to trust in the Lord with all our heart and lean, not on our own understanding. Philippians 4:6-7 tells us to not be anxious about anything, but in every situation by prayer petition with Thanksgiving, present your request to God. 1 Peter 5:7 tells us to cast all our anxiety on Him because He cares for us.
It’s not that Jesus never experienced anxiety, fear, and worry. We see that He actually did the night before He was crucified. But when those feelings came upon Him, He called upon his Heavenly Father. It’s an invitation for us, in our relationship with Jesus, to allow Him to help us walk through what we are going through. There’s no need to panic. Call upon The Lord today and let Him be your comforter and strength.