“Fear not, for I am with you!”

“Fear not, for I am with you!”

Did you know that is the most often given command in the Bible? Yeah, me neither, not until Sunday when Beth Moore told my women’s Bible Study Group. I’m leading a study on the book of Ester called, It’s Tough Being a Woman. It is a wonderful study for those interested in doing a Book of the Bible Study. You can learn a lot from Easter. It seems that the Lord has used our Sunday video time to prepare me for what He has in store for our family the following day.

Two weeks ago the theme was: It’s hard being a woman in a mean world. We went over how to have righteous anger and not holding grudges, Allowing God to be the one who seeks vengeance. It was a good lesson that covered the problem of evil and how to handle hurt feeling and bad relationships. Good stuff for those of us sinners who hold onto grudges and struggle with the problem of evil.  Most of all it stressed not being angry, rather allowing God to be the one who sees and seeks vengeance.

So I have this message in my mind Monday morning as we discover the church had been broken into some time late Sunday night or early Monday morning. It was as if God was saying, Hey Angela, I prepared you for this, vengeance is mine.

Well I know vengeance is God’s, but I sure did hold onto my own anger towards the people who would have the audacity to break into and try to steal from a Church. From MY GOD’S CHURCH! Later in the week my anger turned into a deep deep sadness that someone would feel the need to break into a church, My God’s church, Because if they would have asked God’s people we would have tried to help. And still God will have the final say and vengences for breaking into His church will be His.

This past Sunday’s class started with all that God was teaching me still rolling around in my head. The video lesson this week was: It’s hard to be a woman dealing with fear. It was a wonderful lesson and the Truths shared were deeply moving. That’s where I learned of the abundance of the phrase “Fear not, for I am with you.” In the bible. It’s said over and over by Angels and Jesus. I guess they know we all struggle with fear. 

It seems God knew I would need that lesson too. A little after midnight Monday, I was in that peaceful place between sleep and wakefulness. It was interrupted by the sound of Larry pulling out the baseball bat. He had been bathroom ( the window was open) and he heard footsteps and people whispering. Then he heard our children’s bikes and toys being moved. It seemed we had intruders. Larry went into protection mode and I called the police, unfortunately they ran off before being caught.

At 1:30am I was still shaking. I can’t even remember how many times I went in to check on the children during that hour. Larry and I talked for a few minutes and both commented on how God had protected our family, He answered our prayers. Every night I pray a hedge of protection around our family and Angels of protection for my children as they rest. God Answered those prayers. I kept saying that over and over, God answered our prayers. God answered our prayers. God answered our prayers. Why should I be surprised?????

As we went to bed, I kept telling myself over and over again how God had protected us.  It was like I kept needed to her it. God Had indeed protected us. He was serious when He said “Fear Not for I am with you!” Larry laid down and was sleeping within a minute. I guess that’s just how men are, or a least, how my man is :)

I on the other hand needed a lot more time with God. So I prayed many times over thanking him for protecting our family, Thanking him Larry was home when this happened (the night before he was at the hospital with a church member until 2:00am) Thanking Him nothing was taken. Thanking Him our children slept through the whole thing, Thanking him for His words of preparation to Fear Not, Knowing He was with me. I went to sleep with His words on my mind, repeating them Fear Not, For I am with you. Fear Not for I am with you, Fear Not for I am with You. Sweet words to fall asleep to.