When I Am Afraid

When I Am Afraid

When I am afraid, I will put my trust in you. Psalm 56:3

Once when I was a child, our family was on a road trip to New Mexico when my sister Georgia, who had fallen asleep leaning against the car door, went flying out of the car onto the highway. Papa raced her to the emergency room at a local hospital, and Georgia survived with only abrasions from head to foot.

But “car phobia” was a long-term effect for the rest of us. So when I got married, I figured “backseat driving” was my job, and it drove my husband crazy. Once, we were on our way to Colorado with our three kids. The children were asleep in the backseat as we drove through western Oklahoma late at night. Then, out of nowhere, a blinding white mass of snow streamed horizontally toward our windshield. In moments we couldn’t see the stripes on the two-lane road or even the side of the road for the blizzard that surrounded us. That old fear began rising within me. “Slow down, honey,” I said to my husband. “Pull over or stop or something.”

My hand gripped the armrest, and my foot was on the invisible brake. At first Holmes was annoyed, then he grew more irritated at my anxiety. Knowing that my husband was driving the best he could, I went to God and silently cried out, Lord, please help me! I know your perfect love casts out all fear, so would you fill me with your love so I can relax and not bug my husband?

As I continued praying, a song began to bubble up in my consciousness. “When I am afraid, I will trust in you, in God whose Word I praise, in God I have put my trust. I will not be afraid, no, I will not be afraid!” As I began to sing this tune, which I’d never heard before, first in my head and then aloud, my fear diminished. The anxiety literally shrank before me, and I grew more calm and relaxed. My hand relaxed its grip on the armrest, and we eventually drove out of the blizzard. I’ve never forgotten the song God gave me in the midst of that blinding, swirling snow. When we got to our destination, I found the source of those words in Psalm 56:3-4.

The words are just as true today: When we put our trust in God, we don’t have to be afraid. —CHERI

Lord, when I am afraid I will put my trust in you. God whose Word I praise, in you I have put my trust.

God incarnate is the end of fear; and the heart that realizes that he is in the midst . . . will be quiet in the midst of alarm.

—F. B. MEYER (1847–1929), BAPTIST PASTOR AND EVANGELIST