“I sought the Lord, and he answered me and rescued me from all my fears.” (Psalm 34:4)
 
Some people might say that there is nothing to fear. President Roosevelt in his inaugural address even stated, “the only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” The phrase was used to inspire and invoke confidence spurring individuals into action. The vision that everyone can conquer their fears. We are all afraid of something spiders lurking in corners, the dark, receiving negative test results, or even the future.

Many of our fears are situations that have not happened yet but could be a possibility. When we think of fears in the future, we start planning what to do. No matter how much we plan it does not get rid of our fears. The only true rescue comes from seeking the Lord. We can bring our fears to the Lord for he hears us and will answer. God is our ultimate rescuer, and we can seek him during all things.
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Seek the Lord he is waiting to hear from you and deliver you from your fears. You do not have to everything together to come before God. God isn’t waiting for you to have your life together. He just wants us. To love you and cherish you as his son or daughter.
 
Heavenly Father, may we continue to seek you in times of desperation and when life is good. God, we thank you that we can always come to you.
 
Walking with you,
Stacy Watkins

“I will bless the Lord at all times; his praise will always be on my lips.” (Psalm 34:1)
 
The world can feel completely hectic at times. The past week there has been hurricanes that have hit countries and left hundreds of people without homes, earthquakes that blocked roadways leading to flooding, and even unexpected fires. During these times we can question is there a God? Why is God not helping me? Or even how can I find joy in this moment?

The good news is that God has never left you. He’s right there with you in the struggle. When we praise God in the middle of our struggle we find peace. Praise reminds us that the situation that we are currently in is not our end story. There is more waiting for you. There are several ways we can praise God during our struggles we can sing songs, pray, and even practice gratitude during the situation.

When we shift our mind from the negative of what is going wrong to gratitude not only is there a shift in our mind, but our spirit. We can see things in a new light and have hope in dark moments. We can continue to place our hope in God for He is with us even in our struggle.
 
Heavenly Father, may we sing praises to you even in our darkest times.
 
Walking with you,
Stacy Watkins

“Agrippa said to Paul, “You have permission to speak for yourself.” Then Paul stretched out his hand and began his defense:” (Acts 26:1)
 
Sometimes silence is powerful and it can be more powerful to stay silent in situations then speaking out. However, there is power in our words. Sometimes we can believe that our voice does not matter. While we continue to wait for others to speak up for us. Why wouldn’t we wait for someone else to speak up? They might appear more confident, are a great communicator, or even have more followers. This should not deter us from speaking out since we all have voice. We all are meant to be heard.

Many important decisions in our lives can only be decided once we have courage and speak for ourselves. Though we might want someone else to speak out for us because it would be easier. Unless we speak out for ourselves and let our voices be heard then sometimes our needs will go unmet. There are several things that we can speak out against; unfair treatment, professional goals, or even simple things that you need. The best person to advocate for you about what you need is yourself. Though we have friends that know us and might know our needs they can only truly know what we need unless we speak truth for ourselves and our needs.

Even when it is hard to speak out for us, we can take courage for the Holy Spirit guides us with the words that we need to speak. We might not know exactly how to say it or the right words but, the Holy Spirit knows what needs to be said. When we do not know what to say we can also pray to God to give us the courage to speak for ourselves and be heard.
 
Heavenly Father, may you continue to give us courage to speak out for ourselves. When we do not know what to say may the Holy Spirit continue to give us the words and help us to be heard.
 
Walking with you,
Stacy Watkins