*Faith Greater than Our Fears

Have you lately found yourself bewildered—like me—by people you thought you knew, only to realize you never really did? Or caught in a situation you assumed you could handle, only to discover you’re utterly unprepared? It’s unsettling. Life has a way of pulling the rug out from under us just when we feel most grounded.

What do you do when you're caught between deep fear and fragile hope, unsure of which one to trust as you look toward the near future? When the road ahead seems foggy, and your inner compass begins to spin?

Let me take it a little deeper: What happens when you feel enveloped by darkness—but somewhere, distant yet visible, a faint light glimmers at the end of the tunnel? When the world around you becomes dissonant—some voices singing songs of war, others insisting all are normal, as if nothing has shifted? And in the middle of it all, you stand—sometimes firm, sometimes swayed—often alone and sometimes pulled unwillingly by forces larger than you.

I don’t know about you, but in moments like this, I find myself praying—not for the storm to pass quickly, but for my faith to grow bigger and my hope to burn brighter. I want to stay grounded in something deeper than the fear that floats in the air like smoke after a fire. I want to choose trust over terror, even when trust feels like the more fragile option.

It’s in these moments that I often return to the timeless and defiant words of the prophet Habakkuk:

“Even though the fig tree does not blossom,
and there are no grapes on the vines;
even though the olive crop fails,
and the fields produce no food;
even though there are no sheep in the pen,
and no cattle in the stalls—
yet I will rejoice in the Lord,
I will be joyful in the God of my salvation.”
(Habakkuk 3:17–18)

This is not blind optimism. It’s hope with a backbone. It’s the kind of hope that sings even when there’s no music. A resilient, stubborn kind of joy that says: even if everything falls apart, I will not.

Maybe, just maybe, that kind of posture is how we endure uncertain times—not by pretending things are fine, but by choosing joy and faith anyway.

 

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