Meg and Eli fight for biblical thinking one day (one hour!) at a time, and they learn to live and focus on each day as it comes, not worrying about tomorrow (Matt 6:34). Now, he has to live like he believes this. Today, he starts again with the Lord and trusts Him for another day. His flesh screams there is not enough time, but the Spirit reminds him there has always been enough time when he keeps the Lord first (Matt 6:33). His flesh pushes people (and God) away, but wisdom says to humbly seek the Lord, and God will meet every need (Phil 4:19). His flesh whispers that failure is guaranteed, but the Spirit says he can do all things through Christ who strengthens him (Phil 4:13). Which is true? His chaotic feelings or God’s promise of peace? A peace that doesn’t come through the removal of trials but from enduring the trials with a trust that what the enemy meant for destruction will be the very vehicle God uses to strengthen her soul.Įli’s need to control his environment feeds feelings of anxiousness and challenges his theology. She needs a peace that is different from the world’s peace (John 14:27). But neither would guarantee her the kind of peace that remains when the storms rage. She wants God to save the ancient tree that’s become her safe space. Meg wants the Lord to remove the root of her fear (like her ex trying to extort her). But the peace she sought didn’t come through removing the source of tension.
If that’s all that inner peace required, her twisted insides would have smoothed out when she escaped her abusive ex and resettled in the small town of Sycamore Hill. Meg Gilmore seeks more than an absence of anxiety, fear, or stress.
FIGHT YOUR FEAR AND WIN HOW TO
It helps me work through impossible choice scenarios, consider how to rebound after failure, and how to seek the Lord humbly. It’s therapeutic to craft characters who love the Lord and then put them into situations where God stretches and tests their faith. This is part of the reason I love writing fiction.
How we represent Christ while we face our fear matters. Yet our responses have the power to either draw others to the Lord or drive them away. We need only to observe the world as it navigates out of a global catastrophe that has torn through churches and communities to see that God’s people haven’t always suffered well amidst the fearsome unknown. In general, the Western world-and many in the church-do not know what to do when confronted with fearsome circumstances or unexpected suffering. Jerusha: I’m delighted to welcome my good friend and fellow author, Stacey Weeks, to the FW Blog! Stacey is giving away one print copy of To Sweet Beginnings in Sycamore Hill, to one of you! So read on and enter the giveaway below! By Stacey Weeks
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