Recently a friend sent me a package from the States. Included with the goodies and treats for the kids was a small daily devotional book entitled, “Trust More, Fear Less.” She couldn’t have known how timely that little book was in relation to what was going on in my heart at that moment. But God knew. We had been living in Indonesia for nearly a year and were preparing to move to our base on another island. I was excited to finally be so close to reaching our destination, the place God had called us to serve Him, after years of preparation. At the same time, fear and worry about this place had been my constant companion for several months. I’ve heard that life is hard there. It is hot. There are cobras and 15-foot pythons. If there is an emergency, the only way off the island is by plane. My husband will be flying over the jungle every day and I will be adjusting to caring for three kids in a new place, homeschooling for the first time, cooking in a new culture, power outages, Internet outages … the list of worries goes on.
Then, in church we studied the story of the Apostle Paul’s dramatic conversion. God told a disciple named Ananias in a vision to go to a house where Saul would be praying, and that Saul would be expecting him because he also had a vision that Ananias would come and restore his sight. “‘Lord,’ Ananias answered, ‘I have heard many reports about this man and all the harm he has done to your saints in Jerusalem’”(Acts 9:13, 14). Ananias was fearful. Just days before, Saul was breathing out murderous threats against the believers. How could Ananias trust that Saul had truly changed? He couldn’t trust Saul, but he could trust God. Ananias obeyed God and Saul’s sight was restored. Saul (now Paul, of course) went on to become one of the most effective evangelists of all time.
I realized that I need to do exactly what that little devotional book says … trust more, fear less. God is worthy of our trust. Only He can replace our fear with an inexplicable peace and use us in ways we could never imagine.
