Isaiah 43:1

When I was about 10, my grandma got a new riding lawn mower.  Everyone was so excited to drive it around her big yard.  I wanted to drive the lawn mower, too.  Instead, I laid on Grandma's bed and cried. For hours.  I was afraid.  I watched my brothers and cousins having so much fun and wished I could join them.  But fear kept me trapped inside. 

When I was 12, I heard about the "last trumpet" in Revelation.  It traumatized me.  I'd lived by the railroad tracks my whole life, but now a train whistle in the middle of the night had me yelling for my mom and dad.  They'd come check on me, and I would cry  "I was afraid that was the last trumpet and I'd been left behind."

I've wrestled with fear and anxiety most of my life.  I have been a shy introvert who would prefer not to be the center of attention.  But I have also had a fear of not being noticed or remembered.  As I've gotten older, those fears have lessened.  (But unfortunately not the anxiety. 😓)  I accepted the gift of salvation from Jesus when I was 16; He changed me then and is still changing me today.  

I was challenged earlier this year to find my "life verse".  It's exactly what it sounds like--a Bible verse that has special meaning to you, through the lens of your own life.  I spent way too much time stressing (big surprise, right?) about finding the exact perfect verse.  But last week, while watching The Chosen, the perfect verse found me.   Isaiah 43:1.

This verse is not a promise to me or even Christians in general.  It is a promise to the nation of Israel, God's chosen people.  "But now thus says the Lord, he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: "Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine."   But thanks to God's unchangeable character, we can know that whatever promise He makes, He keeps.  Isaiah 43:1 is paralleled in Colossians 1:12-14 "Giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light.  For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption."  The promise of the Old Testament fulfilled in the New Testament.  

So the scared little girl in me clings to the command "Fear not!"  The fear of being left behind is no longer traumatic, because Jesus Himself has bought me back, trading His perfect life for my imperfect life, covering a multitude of my sins with His love.  The shy introvert in me doesn't have to worry about too much or too little attention, because my name, my identity,  is safe with Him.  I am His.  And He is mine.