My Witness

By Adele McIntosh
Jun, 2008

Almost daily I have reasons to thank God for something, answer to a prayer, the safety of my family, an unexpected chance to serve and witness, my life itself. Knowing I have this ability to call upon Him, what happened recently shows how when faced with fear, we panic, and try to deal with it by ourselves; the result is the situation gets out of hand, that is until we remember where to go for help.

A couple of weeks ago I went through a time of great stress, panic, blind panic, a feeling of despair. ?If only I had someone to talk to? I said to myself. Situation created by others put me into a wild directional panic. I had to face a problem; one which I had hoped was solved. The old fears arose, a feeling of not being able to face it again. I said to my self I can no longer find the energy to go there again.

Over some hours I kept going from room to room hoping that I could work myself past it, but it was as if I was in a mental maze where I ran down one way only to success in hilling a blank wall.

Nowhere could I find an escape from the situation. My fear resulted in me finding my breathing hard to control. THEN, a small and gentle voice said to me ?come to Me and I will give you Pease?. I looked up my Bible and it opened at the Psalms. I went to the 23 Psalm it has figured in my life for 40 years read it through slowly, verse by verse so that pictures in my mind of each phrase quieted me. Then my eyes saw in Ps 25 the heading ?A prayer for Guidance and Protection?

Read verse 1-5, 12-19, 20-21.

All living beings react to panic in the same way, run around in physical or mental circles. They race from one direction to another recruiting. More often backing themselves into a corner and they fight, scream, cower and submit. All of these I did, all of these reactions are normally foreign to us, but fear brings out one or more reaction. This is by far the worst thing we do. What we need is the help for a companion or friend who will listen, hear your fears, respect how this has affected you, then offer help and support, and who would be that friend and companion, be one given to us by our Lord, the Holy Spirit.

I would be lying if I were to say that I have forgotten my fear, or said that I maybe not be confronted with it. The difference is, then I will turn and say: ?Please Lord show me your presence, I need your help?