One day last week, fear was at my doorstep attempting to replace the Holy Spirit as my still small voice. Starting the day before, issues had been piling on top of me creating this huge fear-filled distraction. The thing is, nothing else in my life had changed. The Lord had still blessed me immensely, and even if all of these issues had come to pass immediately, I would still be overwhelmingly blessed by the Lord.

This is the mindset that we need to keep. It is really hard, but we must put up the fight. If we do not, the fear will replace that small voice and we will be dragged down in a spiral of darkness, as Paul says perfectly in his letter to the Corinthians.

16 Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. 17 For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. 18 So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. 

2 Corinth 4:16-18

You might say, “Light and momentary troubles! We are talking about the potential of major life changes here!” I get it, but, if you put your issues in context with the immensity of the eternity of the Lord and the amount of Love and Grace He has for you, I can guarantee that 1) your issues will seem much smaller than they appear currently and 2) if you trust in the Lord and praise Him in this valley – your life WILL ABSOLUTELY change.

I have personal experience that when I fix my eyes on what is unseen, the The Lord via the Holy Spirit, He will stand with me. Whether it is by serving someone, diving into the word, listening to worship music, writing, or simply counting my blessings, I find that the fear dissipates and the troubles melt away. The issues are still there, but I am not spiraling out of control. I can take a breath and think rationally about everything.

I also find that when the Holy Spirit stands with you, He announces His presence. Oh, It is not typically with writing on a billboard or through an announcement at a Red Sox game like popular movies have shown. I have found that it typically comes as a still small voice like it did for Elijah in 1 Kings.

11 Then He said, “Go out, and stand on the mountain before the Lord.” And behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind tore into the mountains and broke the rocks in pieces before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake; 12 and after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire a still small voice.

1 Kings 19:11-12

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And once the Holy Spirit gets started, He doesn’t usually stop covering you with his presence. Sometimes the Holy Spirit brings a virtual avalanche of love – So much so that you might find yourself cracking a little smile. Today, for instance, I wrote this post, then received a text from a friend where we prayed for each other, heard some encouraging words in a worship song and read this tweet.

I CAN NOT WAIT to see what comes next.

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