Words of Hope: Unafraid
My Mom and I went to tea the other day and talked about Dad. This journey of grief is new for me. I want to support my Mom but find my sorrow overwhelming me in the process. I told her about a conversation I had with Shann the night before. I asked Shann why he never felt afraid. (He never gets concerned about war, rumors of war, recessions, or anything in the future.) He told me that growing up; he felt afraid every day of his life. Every night he remembered, he went to bed terrified. He believed in love fully and saw glimpses of it in the church, but his family (even though they believed in God), could never quite grasp love. The deficiencies of love he saw around him created a sense of deep loneliness and fear. I told Mom that Shann said when he met our family, all that fear left and that he finally saw love lived out fully and truthfully, not perfectly but honestly. He said he saw and knew love existed, and this realization healed him from feeling afraid.
Mom and I cried together, thinking about Shann coming into our family. Dad loved him deeply. I am grateful for this authentic love that heals our fears.
Where God’s love is, there is no fear, because God’s perfect love takes away fear. It is punishment that makes a person fear. So love is not made perfect in the person who has fear.” – I John 4:18
