Journal Entry ~ 05/16/19

But overhearing what they said, Jesus said to the ruler of the synagogue, "Do not fear, only believe." - Mark 5:36

Imagine how Jarius must have felt in this moment - he had just heard that his daughter died. While I have been blessed to never know the pain of losing a child, I have lost loved ones and can only imagine the devastating pain he must have felt. If ever there is a time to lose faith, it would be in this moment. 

Sensing his emotions, Jesus spoke into Jarius' despair and says "do not fear, only believe."  Those words are for us, too. Our emotions take over when our hearts struggle to grasp the trial in front of us. When things don’t go as planned, when our worst fears are realized, our bodies are programmed to an emotional response. While these heightened emotions serve a purpose, they can be dangerous. Emotions aren’t bad in and of themselves - God gave us the ability to feel things deeply. He designed us to love fiercely, to anger righteously, and even to a reverent fear. The problem is we allow our emotional responses to dictate a false truth to our hearts - they can blind us to His truth. 

Fear is one of those emotions that can take over our responses. We can get so wrapped up in what we believe to be true, what we think should happen, what we think may happen, that our hearts can lie to us about who God is and what He is capable of. When things seem as if they can't get any worse, we have no need to fear. We only need to believe that He is in on the throne and He is in control. Regardless of our circumstances, He is still sovereign and allowing things to unfold in our lives exactly as they should. 

Jarius may have believed that it's too late, that everything he did trying to get to Jesus to save his daughter was for naught, but we learn here that it's never too late for Jesus. We cannot allow our fears to get in the way of believing He is working all things for our good. We need only to believe. 


Press on ~ you are loved 💗

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