The men in my life are laying out clothes, filling up containers, packing enough for five days of their ten away in two cities where terror has struck again—London and Paris.  And they’ll be standing on the beaches where some other mother’s boys landed and turned the waters red at the same ages as our sons—19 and 23.  They’re going to witness history and pay their respects.

Will my husband and sons return?

Our daughter is nervous.  She’s heard the news of the latest attacks.  She tells me she’s “phobic” today in the car.

I admit to her I’ve been tempted to fret about their destinations.  But I tell her I refuse to let terror reign in me.

Because I know our Redeemer lives and I know where we’re heading as a family, I am at peace, no matter how much terror spreads.  I know our Destination and Who awaits us there.

He who is in us is greater than he who is in the world.

And what if the worst happens?  Because horrific things happen this side of Heaven.

Even then, when you go through storms instead of trying to hunker down and hide, God builds in you a greater strength—a more expansive freedom—to live and love boldly by faith in Christ alone.  Because with Christ, we never walk alone.  And it’s through the hard breaking by life that you learn the freedom of dependence on God. 

When you know the King of kings and the Lord of lords, there is no person on earth who can keep you bound in terror unless you give away your freedom that comes through dependence—dependence on the One and Only who will bring you through every bit of hard and string all your days like pearls fashioned by grit, our medals of honor given by the One we faithfully serve, our loving Commanding Officer, spreading His kingdom on earth as it is in Heaven, one heart at a time.

So I tell Anna she can choose to pray.  No one can ever take away her prayers.

And I tell Anna she can choose to remember that God is in control.  She can choose to believe that God knows the when and how of each of our deaths and that our God who knows the numbers of hair on our heads can surely bring us safely Home.  We can rest in the knowing now that we can always find solace in the shadow of the Almighty’s wings.

And it’s the someday’s promise that helps us live fully in this day’s perils.

She calms as we ride in the car on the way to a job shadowing situation that looks like it may lead to a job—another example of God’s miraculous, perfect provision for our daughter with special needs who has been out of work since February.

See how God always provides what you need when you need?

I ask her and she nods.

Use your God-given brain to remember truth, not to foster fear.  I tell this to myself.  I tell this to my daughter.

Because it’s Truth we need to cling to in a world where we wonder what’s true anymore.

Truth is, God always provides what we need, when we need.  And sometimes the what and when look mighty different than our mighty hopes and plans.

He who made us knows us better than we know ourselves.  Will we trust our Almighty?  Even in the valleys?  Even in the deserts?  Even in the fiercest terrors?  Even in a world that can seem like it’s spinning mad and falling apart?

Anna and I are praying protection over these men we love.  And we’ll keep praying.  We’ll keep choosing to remember this . . .

Come what may, we know our King of kings and Lord of lords will deliver on His protection promise—on our “deliver us from evil” prayers.  And He’ll deliver His promise His way, which is always the best way, in the best time.

Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.

Proverbs 3:5

The LORD is my light and my salvation—whom shall I fear?  The LORD is the stronghold of my life—of whom shall I be afraid?

Psalm 27:1

Courage is armor

A blind man wears;

That calloused scar

Of outlived despairs;

Courage is Fear

That has said its prayers.

Karle Wilson Baker