WHEN THE WORLD SEEMS DARK

“Let Him who walks in the dark, who has no light, trust in the name of the Lord and rely on His God.” Isaiah 50:10

“See, I have engraved you on the palms of My hands” Isaiah 49:16

“There is no fear in love. But perfect love DRIVES OUT FEAR.” 1 John 4:18

In May of 2001, my sweet mom traveled by airplane with me to Seattle and to North Carolina to audition for two ballet companies. I was so glad she was with me. I remember feeling uneasy about being on the airplanes for some reason. I was never really afraid before those trips. Maybe I was older and more aware of things that could happen, but I prayed and thankfully shook them off, thinking that I was being silly.

Four months later, I arrived at the ballet studio as usual and headed to the dressing room to get changed for ballet class. A fellow dancer said something about The World Trade Center and an airplane, but I did know what she was talking about. I rarely, if ever, watched the news. So I headed up the stairwell to the studio and began my normal stretching routine. Slowly other dancers trickled in one by one, but there was an odd quietness. An unusual quietness. I noticed one of our principle dancers messing with the old television set in the studio that we used for studying videos of choreography.  He was messing with the antennas trying to get a television signal. I was puzzled, wondering what he was doing, thinking that seemed a bit unusual. One by one, dancers gathered around that old television set. Our director arrived also and joined us at the television. We all watched in silence at the news… the terrorist attacks on September 11th. We sat there for what seemed like the longest time, nobody said a word….then our director told us to just go home. I immediately called my fiancé. At the time we were both living in Austin, and so we got as far away from downtown as possible, fearful of more attacks, uncertain about what was going to happen next.

Obviously, I do not have answers for that kind of tragedy, that size of chaos. But I do know the fear that can creep in after seeing something like that on the news. All I know is that God promises that He can cast out our fears, He can give us peace when everything around us is looking so dark. We can crawl into His lap, tell Him we are afraid, and He will calm us and help us through those fears. Remember that He does not forget us…we are engraved on the palms of His hand.

There have been too many tragic events to name that have gone on in our world this year.  Bless the families and victims in those events and in this weeks’ Boston Marathon bombings. Our prayers are with you.

This song is dancing in my heart and I hope its lyrics dance in yours:

“Cover Me” by Bebo Norman

“Cover me, cover up my tears
Cover up this man who’s covered up in fear
I need a peace of mind, I need a piece of You
To cover all that’s gone and everything that’s new
You unveil me with Your mercy
I want to breathe You in
You unfold me, then You hold me

Cover up my heart, cover up my soul
Cover up this world and everything I know
You cover up the sky, You cover up the sea
Cover up the mountains and every part of me
Every single breath I breathe….cover me

I am still alive and covered up in years
Covered up in lines as innocence appears
So give me a peace of mind, give me a piece of You
To cover all that’s old with everything that’s new
You unveil me with Your mercy
I want to breathe you in
And You unfold me, then You hold me
You unveil me with Your mercy
I want to breathe you in.”

Prayer: “Lord, I do not understand the crazy events happening in our world. I feel afraid. Help me focus in on YOU and Your promises in Your Word. I give You all of my fears….help me cling to You, and continue confidently in Your grace in this dance of life.”