God said, “It is the Lord who goes before you. He will be with you, He will never leave you or forsake you. Do not fear nor be dismayed.” (Deuteronomy 31:8)

And, yet, I hear in my head, “something bad is going to happen.” I check our finances. All the bills are paid. Check. My children are responsible adults. Check. Our grandchildren are on the right track. Check. My covid foggy brain is clearing up. Check. And yet, as I walk to the bathroom in the middle of the night, I think “something bad is going to happen.”

Satan is throwing his fiery darts and hitting the mark. How do you fight the Prince of the Power of the Air? I guard myself with the shield of faith and attack him with the sword of the Spirit. I know God has told us many, many times to be strong, be courageous, be brave, because the Lord is with you. I have to accept that by faith.

Isaiah had a conversation with God in which he acknowledged, “You will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you because he trusts in you.” (26:3) Isaiah had a lot to fear with the political climate of the day. Kings were falling far away from God and taking the people with them. They were not friendly toward those who followed God. Isaiah knew something bad was going to happen, and yet, he kept his mind focused on God and trusted in him. Therefore, he could be at peace.

Dr. Jeff Meyers wrote a short ebook published by Summit Ministries titled, “When Fear and Dread Rage.” In that book, he included 50 Bible verse cards “to immediately defeat fear and dread”. I printed, cut, and placed those cards where I could see them throughout the day. The way to defeat Satan’s attacks is with God’s Word specifically aimed at that particular fear.

Now, I thought I had gotten over this fear and dread, but just recently it reared its ugly head again. I kept reciting the verses that I knew, but the fear was still there. Finally, the shoe dropped. We had applied to have our passports renewed. We had allowed plenty of time before we had plans to travel out of the country, but then we received notice that our application was on hold – they were not accepting the photos we had submitted. One shoe dropped. So we scrambled to get photos retaken and sent them off as soon as we could to avoid delay. We were getting to the point where there was just barely enough time to still make the deadline. I kept checking the travel.gov website to see how our application was progressing, and it kept saying, “In process.” Finally, I decided to check our receipt from the post office to see if our certified mail had been received. I could not believe the message! “Moving Through Network, In Transit to Next Facility, Arriving Late, April 10, 2023 Delivery will be delayed.” That was two months ago! It is now 3 1/2 weeks before departure! The other shoe dropped!

I scrambled to contact the post office to see what was going on! Thankfully, they were very calm and polite because I was ready to scream! The gal’s calm voice soothed my frayed nerves. A case history will be set up for these items, and they will be in contact with us in 1-3 days. That’s all we can do for right now.

Does this mean God was with me not? No! I had to remind myself, the Lord is the one who goes before me… He knew this was going to happen. If he wants us to go to Canada, if He wants me to lead the breakout session at our destination, he will work it out. Just like when Moses originally spoke those words to the Israelites, they were preparing to enter the Promised Land. There were giants in the land! There were nations much larger and more powerful than they were! But, God went before them and in some amazing feats defeated their foes. I still have to have faith in Him…not faith in the postal system, nor faith in the passport authorities. I have to have faith in Him. He will keep me in perfect peace because I’m trusting in Him.