The year was about 1961. A group of us who lived out in the woods from Poyen, AR, decided we would walk into town one night. I was the young one of the bunch and very impressionable. It was pitch dark with no flashlight. You could barely see the outline of the trees by looking up and allowing your eyes to adjust. That, and the crunch of the gravel as we walked, was the only way you could stay out of the ditch.
As we walked along the long, straight road heading into town, everybody started talking scary stuff until we began hearing “things” in the woods, becoming so scared we all took off running. Trouble was, I could not run nearly as fast as the others. They just ran off and left me! I was alone in the dark running as fast as I could with town well over a mile away! I was in stark terror! The last thing I remember about that episode was that I was running with all my might letting out a high-pitched squeal trying to run faster. It all started by scary talk until it was so magnified in our minds that we were hearing “creatures” that were coming out of the woods to pounce on us at any moment!
Fear and unbelief operates that way. The more you talk about the fears and negatives, and the more you think about them, the more magnified and the more real they become. A life-style of such thinking and speaking produces a life dominated by fear, a constant view of the negative side of things, and what all cannot be done.
Conversely, the more one thinks of positive things and talks about positive possibilities and strategies, the more magnified the positives become and the more possibility for solutions and peace. The great apostle Paul said, whatsoever things are true, honest, just, pure, lovely, of good report, virtue, praise, think on these things, and the God of peace shall be with you (Philippians 4:8,9).
Maybe if we changed our thought life and our talk life, we would not be running down the road scared out of our wits because of “creatures” along the way. “You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You” (Isaiah 26:3 NKJV). There is peace through Jesus even if we are walking down a long, dark, scary, road. 10-18-13
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