The title of this post is the title of the last worship song we sang in church this past Sunday. Seriously, if there was any sermon I ever needed to hear, it was Pastor Wesley’s sermon on fear and worry.

Pretty sure I’ve told you guys that I’ve struggled with worry and fear basically my entire life, so I’ll skip that part.

But with the end of my college career already beginning, a whole new wave of worries has crashed upon my head. Will I pass all my classes so I can even graduate on time? Will my SIP (senior integration project, for those who don’t know) even get done? What about after graduation? Everyone’s asking what my plans are, do I even have plans? What do I even want to do again? Why did I choose my major?

So the battle of trying to trust God has just been a little more difficult than usual. Which in some ways is good because in praying for God to strengthen me in trusting Him, He has given me opportunities to learn. Doesn’t make it any easier, but from a big picture perspective, it will be beneficial for me.

I won’t write out the entire sermon to you, but I will tell you some of the main points.

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As humans, we are busy. There are so many aspects of life that we need to keep in check. Church, work, family, school, friends, self. But in the midst of that busyness, we make ourselves even more busy by worrying about those things.

I’d honestly never thought about worry like that, and when I truly look back on the instances when I worried that things wouldn’t pan out the way I wanted them to, I realize that those things would have seemed less busy and less of a big deal had I not worried about them and just trusted God.

The main point of the sermon was this: “I am too busy to not live without worry and anxiety.”

Meaning, our lives are busy enough without us worrying about them. It would be easier to trust God with things we’re unsure about than to be anxious and cause ourselves to feel even more busy than we were before.

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Closing the sermon, Pastor Wesley told us how he loved to watch old recordings of football games in which UGA won. His wife questioned him about why he watched them again, and he expressed that he loved watching them because he never had to stress about the game because he already knew what the outcome was. Even if Georgia dropped the ball a couple of minutes before the game, he knew that Georgia would ultimately win. He knew what the ending was.

And he told us that, as Christians, we already know the ending in our lives.

Sure, I may not know what my post-grad life is going to look like right now. Where I’m going to be, what job I’ll have. But I do know that the Lord provides, and that if He has been faithful in my life up until now, He isn’t just going to stop His faithfulness. And ultimately, He will be glorified.

Pastor Wesley brought up how Jesus said, “It is finished,” on the cross. He talked about how when Jesus died, all of the fear, worry and regret that we face in our daily lives was defeated because we as Christians would have the hope of the love of God within us because of Jesus’ sacrifice.

Obviously with my constant worry struggles, I have not been living that belief out in my life – that I no longer have to worry about tomorrow or even the next hour in my day because Jesus defeated fear on the Cross, and I already know the ending.

I may have heard “No Longer Slaves” before in chapel or maybe during another church service, but that song had a whole new meaning for me, especially after that sermon. The chorus struck me:

I’m no longer a slave to fear, I am a child of God.

But it was truly the bridge of the song that I longed to make my anthem from Sunday on:

You split the sea so I could walk right through it,

My fears were drowned in perfect love.

You rescued me so I could stand and sing,

I am a child of God.

WOW.

This past weekend, I went out with my best friends (who are also seniors) and we all talked about the lessons we’ve been learning or are still learning and what we expect to grow in or learn in this last semester we have. I told them that I’m still learning to be confident in who I am and the abilities that the Lord has given me. Even just simply reminding myself that I am a child of God because I constantly forget that and it causes me to do things, such as worry, when I should be fearless and confident in that alone.

So, not only did this worship song address my worry issues, but it specifically stated what I am currently trying to remind myself: “I am a child of God.”

And if I am a child of God and I believe that God loves me so much that He sent His Son to die on the Cross for my sins – my worry – then who and what should I fear? Nothing. Absolutely nothing.

It doesn’t mean that I won’t fear anything ever, because I’m still human. But I, and Christians in general, need to be reminded that when we are tempted to fear, we must look to our Heavenly Father.

As Pastor Wesley said, “Fear and faith cannot go together.”

I know it will be difficult, but I want to declare every day that I am no longer a slave to fear. The only fear I should have is a fear of the Lord.

I am encouraged to read what the psalmist wrote in Psalm 118:4-9, “Let those who fear the Lord say, ‘His steadfast love endures forever.’ Out of my distress I called on the Lord; the Lord answered me and set me free.  The Lord is on my side; I will not fear. What can man do to me? The Lord is on my side as my helper; I shall look in triumph on those who hate me. It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in man. It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust princes.”

May you be filled to the brim by the Word of God, and encouraged to live without fear.

Mishy ❤