Standing on the Promises

When we moved to Haiti nine years ago I often struggled with fear. There was so much to be afraid of: natural disasters, riots, tropical diseases, violence, rats, tarantulas, cockroaches, and in the back of my mind the fear that any day Jason could have an engine failure on the single engine aircrafts he flew and crash. Knowing I could not live in a constant state of fear I asked God to take away my fear and by His Holy Spirit He directed me to the following Bible verses: 

For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. 2 Timothy 1:7 

There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love. 1 John 4:18 

Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on Thee: because he trusteth in Thee. Isaiah 26:3 

Be careful (anxious) for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Phil 4:6-7 

So I memorized these verses and whenever I felt fear threatening to overtake me I prayed and held onto the promises of God and He gave me perfect peace, just like He promised. 

Even after the terrible earthquake in 2010. 

After experiencing the quake and seeing all the devastation, I remember thinking how I could possibly sleep with a 10 feet concrete wall looming over my head, knowing it could crumble and crush me in my sleep, but God directed me to Psalm 4:8: 
I will both lay me down in peace, and sleep: for Thou, Lord, only makest me dwell in safety. 

 Did that mean that I believed that nothing bad would ever happen to me or my family? 

No. 

 Jesus said: These things I have spoken unto you, that in Me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world. John 16:33 

And we had our share of tribulation. In our first week in Haiti Jason came down with Malaria, later I nearly died from a serious case of Dengue Hemorrhagic Fever. We were caught in the middle of riots, and Jason was once attacked by a mob after hitting a pedestrian while driving. He was imprisoned and after his release attacked by a family member of the pedestrian. Later he was attacked in flight during a medical evacuation flight.  

When our oldest son was three years old he ran into a twirling propeller during a preflight check which slit open his throat and threw him backwards through the air. He still carries the scar. 

One day, I unknowingly drove through a mob that were just in the process of stoning a thief to death. Another day, two men tried to force open the window and remove me bodily from the vehicle when I was driving Jason through the capital city to find treatment for his excruciating back pain. 

In Canada, Jason was pinned under an atv where he broke three vertebrates in his back. In the US a Jason Krull died of a similar atv accident. 

When our middle son was a newborn I almost burned the house down by falling asleep and forgetting a pot on the stove. Only by God prompting Jason to come home early did our two boys and I live to see another day. 

Only a year ago, Jason was involved in a serious mini-bus rollover accident in Haiti.

 Yet, through it all, I’ve learned to say with Job. Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him: Job 13:15 

Our times are in God’s hands. 
But I trusted in Thee, O Lord: I said, Thou art my God. My times are in Thy hand: Psalm 31:14-15a 

God is trustworthy. 
God is not a man, that He should lie; neither the son of man, that He should repent: hath He said, and shall He not do it? or hath He spoken, and shall He not make it good? Numbers 23:19 

God gave us His Word so we could read it and learn it and hide it in our hearts and obey it. 
"If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them." (Jesus) John 13:17 

And just like everything else in the Bible, His gospel promises are also trustworthy and true: 

For God so loved the world, that He gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. 
For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through Him might be saved. John 3:16-17 

In Whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in Whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise, Ephesians 1:13 

"If the Lord is satisfied to save me through the merits of His dear Son, assuredly I may be satisfied to be so saved. If I take God at His word, the responsibility of fulfilling His promise does not lie with me, but with God, who made the promise. 

When enquirers accept the Bible as literally true, and see that Jesus is really given to all who trust Him, all the difficulty about understanding the way of salvation vanishes like the morning’s frost at the rising of the sun. “God bears testimony to His Son, that whosoever trusts in His Son is saved. Will you make Him a liar now, or will you believe His Word? 

The change which comes over the heart when the understanding grasps the gospel is often reflected in the face, and shines there like the light of heaven. Such newly enlightened souls often exclaim, “Why, sir, it is so plain; how is it I have not seen it before this? I understand all I have read in the Bible now, though I could not make it out before. It has all come in a minute, and now I see what I could never understand before.” 

The fact is, the truth was always plain, but they were looking for signs and wonders, and therefore did not see what was nigh them. 

Faith will not long seem a difficulty to you; nor ought it to be so, for it is simple." (C. Spurgeon) 

He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? Romans 8:32 

My lips shall greatly rejoice when I sing unto Thee; and my soul, which Thou hast redeemed. Psalm 71:23