Broken. Failing. Fired. Hungry. Cold. These are words I hear in hushed tones at the doctor’s office or in line at the grocery store.  The entire country is suffering the economic crisis. But, two minutes from my front porch is a county (Elkhart county) that is suffering staggering unemployment rates. 18%- The lowest since the Great Depression. My county is hurting. My friends have real needs.

I have a friend who can’t pay her gas bill again. It is 5 degrees this morning. No mercy from the gas company. My friends can’t go out for coffee anymore. They politely sip lemon water as pressing servers inquire yet again if there is anything they would like to order since this is a place you come to BUY food, not sip water. The lemon costs money is the implication.

I travel to the third world frequently.  We are living like kings compared to them, but there is a sense of desperation in the air.  Real fear.  Panic that we have not seen in our lifetimes.

What do we do with despair?  Do we join the ranks of the fearful? Or do we hold to the promises we know are true, shake off our fear,  and walk forward bold and courageous?

Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Matthew 6:25-26

I secretly paid my friends gas bill.  I bought a bagel for another.  I slid a new book under a door for yet another friend.  It’s what I could do to help in the moment. Instead of panicking myself, I am trying to give what I can.

Instead of joining the ranks of the fearful, be the answer to someone else’s prayer of desperation.

Join the bold and courageous, and live like you believe the promises of God.