If there has ever been a time in my life when I feel like crawling under the bed with a blankie and lying there whimpering - it just might be now. Now, I really don’t see myself as a wimp, like a girl who has never had to face anything more unpleasant than a pimple on her nose on prom night. I’ve faced my own share of serious diseases, loss of loved ones, being stranded in blizzard conditions, job loss, and car wrecks.

But people, I have to admit, we have entered a time in this world that is causing me more than just a passing “gulp” from anxiety. I now wake up of a morning with almost the same attitude as from the tired old joke; “Instead of my usual ‘Good morning, Lord!’ it has now become ‘Oh good Lord, it’s morning.”

Forcing myself out of bed, I have a choice of things to worry about from a buffet of disasters; the people ravaged by Hurricane Helene, the entire state of Florida that, even as I am writing, face Milton the Monster, and a presidential election that is threatening to engulf our entire nation in an internal war against ourselves. As a side dish, we have the escalating inflation rate that is causing a lot of folks to think about starting a starvation diet, and others to lustfully eye Fido’s food. And don’t forget the highlight of my days - dessert. A delightfully layered dish composed of warring countries who are backed by other countries, seemingly just itching to jump into the fray and make it a free-for-all.

My feelings familiar? Do you also find yourself longing for the days when kids dreaded to come home from school because they knew they would be facing their furious Mom - because she got “the call” from the school principal. The good ol’ days when a house break-in made the local newspaper headlines in HUGE BLACK LETTERING.

I am getting tired. Exhausted from living when the whole world is turning itself into a place where hate and brutality are the norm. A time when families don’t even realize they are supposed to be a safe place for each other. Where mom and dad and the kids know that if they come home bruised and defeated by a bully in their life, the rest of the family will actually care and will try to encourage them to face another tomorrow.

But still, I do have something to hold onto ... something that gives me the courage to take a deep breath each morning and step outside my home. That something? A deep conviction and real knowledge of God. That He cares, that He is watching and helping, that nothing escapes His attention, and that He will repay.

No, I am not blind, I am very aware of the horrible pain in this world. But I also know nothing worth having comes without pain. And the win at the end is worth the pain we face now.

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