For a long period, my sweet Michala and I both lived in fear. We lived on the third floor in our little apartment in Franklin, Tennessee, and being up high gave me a little bit more of a sense of security than if we lived on the ground floor. I spoke to the police officer who lived in our complex as soon as we moved in, and I met our neighbors. The police officer gave me his wife’s phone number as well as his and told me to call or text anytime during the day or night if we needed them, and if we did not get an immediate response to call 911, then try him, again.
At night, I would double and triple check the locks at the front door of our apartment as well as the balcony doors. Michala had a door opening to the balcony, so she would also double and triple check her door every night. Again, we were on the third floor, and it would be impossible for someone to have climbed up there (unless it was Spider-Man).
Still I checked.
For the first few weeks, fear all but consumed me. I would fall asleep, only to wake up half an hour to an hour later. I would get up, go check the door’s lock again, and look out the windows to see if there was anything suspicious or alarming. On the phone with Terry one night, he reminded me, “You need to be cautious, but sweetheart, you cannot allow fear to consume you. You know this. Pray about your fears. You have got to get some sleep. You are no good to Michala if you do not take care of yourself.”
I spent so many nights praying. I mean it. Countless nights, around the clock, I would pray. I had a precious friend who is a counselor who checked in on us, frequently those first few weeks, checking in, nearly every day. My sister-friend Lindsey was doing the same thing. Morning check-ins, good night check-ins.
If you have followed my page for a while, you might already know this story. But one night (morning) I woke up just before 2:00 a.m. with “Hebrews 6:19. Hebrews 6:19. Hebrews 6:19.” Over and over this passage ran through my mind. I tossed and turned in bed, wondering, “What is Hebrews 6:19? I can’t remember what is Hebrews 6:19?” Finally I got up, turned on my bedroom light and pulled out my Bible.
“We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain,” - Hebrews 6:19 (NIV)
And then it hit me. We have this hope as an anchor for our soul; firm and secure. The hope we have in Jesus is like that of an anchor, holding a ship firmly in position. I sat on my bed and highlighted this passage, and felt an incredible peace wash over me. I cannot adequately explain the feeling I had. It was almost euphoric. I cried tears of joy instead of tears of fear. My hope was anchored in Jesus.
I fell asleep praying and did not wake up again until my alarm went off the next morning. From then on, I began buying anything and everything with anchors on it. I hung an anchor on the wall as you walked into our apartment. I hung an anchor on the wall in our kitchen. I had wall art of anchors. I needed the reminder of Jesus being our anchor so the enemy could not weigh me down with fear.
Friends, we live in a scary time. None of us have ever experienced a pandemic like what we are currently facing with COVID-19. As frightening as the unknown is for us, we have this hope as an anchor for our soul, firm and secure.
The enemy wants to weigh us down with fear and doubt consuming our every thought. The enemy is not our anchor, though. Jesus is our anchor. And we have this hope as an anchor for our soul, firm and secure.
As we enter a new normal for the time being, be careful where you get your information. Trust the doctors and specialists, and heed their advice. And at the end of the day, scary times or not, we have this hope as an anchor for our soul, firm and secure.