It's not like we come with a faith meter

God hasn't given us a spirit of fear.

Now, I don't know if I'm "special" or what.  I tend to worry more about little things, like the siding issue, and leave the "big" issues, like "totalitarian government is going to put us in FEMA camps!" alone.

An old saying "Today is the tomorrow, you worried about yesterday".  Really, looking back, so few of my fears and anxieties have come to pass.  I remember when I'd get a migraine, finally knock it back, and worry for days about it coming back.  Well, that's just pointless.

I am blessed with a huge and diverse group of internet friends.  I love how we all manage to keep it loving and civil.

Sadly, some of my internet friends are freaking out.  They are convinced bad things are coming very quickly.

*  They worry the government will declare martial law and refuse to permit elections.
*  They worry the recent gun violence will result in the loss of their firearms.
*  They worry the government will do bad things to citizens.

I have a couple of thoughts on the subject.  First, maybe I have an advantage.  Countless nights, spent lying awake, simultaneously battling hallucinating delusions and suicidal depression, leaning on God to carry me through it all - has honed my faith.  I mean, maybe I do have something uncommon.  I don't know.

It's not like we come with a faith-meter!  The last thing I'll say - oh, my faith is so wonderful - blach!  Any faith I have is a gift from God; because I have the time-tested knowledge He'll me through the bad times of my life.  He smiles when I do, wipes my tears away, and will never, ever, leave me.

So what can a human do against that?  Nothing!  As Ron says, "The worst thing they can do is separate my body from my spirit."  Oh, boo-boo.  I'm in Heaven now.

I got a little glimpse of that today; we came home on Metrolift (a paratransit service).  As we pulled up in front of the house, the cat door flew open and the cat erupted into the driveway, his tail held high, and meowing his little head off as he ran joyfully towards us.  I'm sure that will happen when I get to my heavenly mansion - with Frosty (the white cat in photos, "graduated" 2009).

I just want to imbue these people; it doesn't matter.  Fear is worry about what might happen tomorrow.  You are trying to predict the future.  God says, don't do that.  Leave it up to him.  Oh, it's all over the Bible.

Matthew 6:25-34

New King James Version (NKJV)

Do Not Worry

²⁵ “Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? ²⁶ Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?²⁷ Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?

²⁸ “So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; ²⁹ and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. ³⁰ Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?

³¹ “Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ ³² For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. ³³ But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. ³⁴ Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

Gang, that is JESUS talking.  [head in hands]  Really, you're going to tell the Lord of Lords He doesn't know what He's doing?  You HAVE to worry?   That's really insulting.  

Worry insults God.  It probably makes Him very sad, too.  

The God who created your life has planned out every detail of your life.  Every detail.  

You know how many handouts I have done, when I just walked up to a random stranger and gave them something, and they took it?  God had that planned to the microsecond.  

Once I saw that kind of divine planning I really worked on dialing back the worry.  If God can do that, He can take care of the car problem, home repair issue, bad sales, etc.  Whatever it is, He's got it.  

I also have to add that I stopped freaking out about conspiracies once I started on my Haldol, and I wonder how many people I know could use a tablet themselves.  How can you live in a steady diet of "prepping", survival, and conspiracy?  

I feel sorry for kids in that environment, but I do think those people may have been chosen by God to prepare ahead of time for the tribulation.