Promises, Peace, & Journal Prompts for Fear & Anxietyনমুনা

Fear of The Unknown Future

I’ve written about this before, but I could win a gold medal in The What If Game. I could represent our country in the Olympics and take first place. But I bet you’d be on my team, too.

What if my child won’t ever understand math?

What if my oldest son has another Crohn’s flare-up?

What if my husband gets in a car accident on the way to work?

What if I screw up this project at work?

What if my child doesn’t walk with God?

Is anyone else really good at playing the What If game? Preferably at 3 o'clock in the morning in the pitch dark?

Well, WHAT IF I told you the solution to The What If Game is one simple truth? One truth that can dismantle anxiety? One truth that can bring us peace? One truth that will win the What If Game?

Ready? It’s this six-word sentence:

God will take care of me.

Let’s see if this truth really holds.

Let’s see if we take our anxieties to the worst-case scenario—if we sink the ship and go to the very bottom of our fear—will God still be there? Will God really take care of me?

Let’s try it.

Question: What if I fail at this thing—or what if I make a huge mistake?

Answer: God will take care of me. After all, He took care of Peter after he denied Jesus three times. Talk about failure. And restoration.

Question: What if my child does not choose to walk with God?

Answer: God will take care of me. Jesus said in John 10 that He is the good shepherd. God has not made me the Shepherd; it is not my job to save my children. So He has let me off the hook and is taking care of His creation, including our children. And God will take care of His sheep, the ones who stay close and the ones who wander away.

Question: What if I have to go down a path that is the hardest one I have ever walked, like cancer or illness or tragedy?

Answer: God will take care of me. After all, He took care of His own Son who walked the road of betrayal, persecution, beatings, crucifixion, and death. He brought a resurrection.

In any possible scenario, we can take God’s word to the bank. He will take care of us. We can usually find a character in the Bible who has cashed in that check. Take Jochebed, Moses' mother. She put her baby in a river, and I can only imagine the anxiety she had watching him float away. But God took care of her. And Moses.

God took care of Esther. She was selected because of her beauty, but we remember her for her bravery. She bravely approached the King, and God saved an entire nation.

God took care of Joseph. He was in jail for years, until God did something miraculous and put him as second in command of all of Egypt. What redemption.

God took care of Jesus. He faced cruel abuse, abandonment, and death. And if we fear death today? Remember that God took care of His Son, so He will take care of us with eternal life with Him after death.

The answer to every What If is God Will Take Care of Me.

Journal Prompt: What is your what-if question right now? How have you seen God take care of you when you had other what-if questions? How have you seen God take care of someone who has lived through your worst fear?

Suggested Practice: Place your hand on your heart and slowly repeat five times, “God will take care of me.”