“What if...!”

“Then Jesus said, "Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.” -Matthew 11:28

Fear of the “what if” is the fear of the unknown! Fear is crippling. It literally stops us from doing things. Of course, there is healthy fear that keeps us from doing dumb things. But, there is also unhealthy fear that keeps us from entering the promised land.

Let’s look at Abraham for example. The man of the ultimate faith experienced unhealthy fear. He went to Egypt because of the famine and ended up with Hagar. God never told him to go there. Then he panicked over Sarah’s beauty and asked her to lie about her identity as his wife, not once but twice, with two different kings. God never told him to go there either.

I happen to like Abraham. I just love his attitude, his passion, and love for God. He believed God even if what God was asking of him was absolutely insane, and scary. I want to be like him in character. He was a great man despite his failures.

I can understand why he would panic, and also I can clearly identify his mistakes. So, easy after the fact right? I bet he did the same. The truth is we do it, too.

I had one of those “what if” moments. It was suddenly! I was driving, and a thought crossed my mind. That thought went like this, “What if what I believe God wants me to do brings me sorrow? What if what He asked will be painful? Can I be sure and trust this?” Ok, there was more but it’s personal, I’m just going to give you a “glimpse” here. Those “what ifs” We’re coming fast and furious. I literally started to panic. One “what if” after another came with another scenario being played out in my mind. I should be a movie director with that kind of wild imagination.

Then, I came to a red light. By this time, my posture was affected. I had crunched down in my seat, both hands on steering wheel (I never drive with both hands) and my arms now leaning on the steering wheel for support. My head was down for a second because my back and head hurt. I had talked myself right down to a panic mode. I felt all this weight on my back; I was physically hurting. Then, another thought crossed my mind, along with a voice, the voice of God. “My Child, ‘what if’ this beautiful gift I’m giving you will bring you joy unspeakable, and what if it brings you to fulfill your destiny? Straighten yourself up. I don’t bring disaster, and I don’t bring confusion. I make the paths of my children straight. My plans and purposes bring you a hope and a future. Give me your burden. Give me your fears. They are not meant for you to carry, And entrust your ‘what ifs’ to me. I will not ever fail you!”

I looked up and across from me was a church. My eyes fell on the cross that was on top of the church. Immediately, this passage above came to my mind. God never intended for us to carry our own burdens. He wants us to leave them at the cross. We all experience those “what if” moments. I realized God cares about those moments of fear. We are human. As humans we panic over the unknown. I was afraid of wasn’t even real. They were scenarios placed there by the enemy, Satan. This is what he did in the garden of Eden. He placed the “what if” in the mind of Eve. She bought into it and lost everything. It cost her beautiful home, and everything she had, a life of luxury, joy, peace, and care free to a life of toil, pain, and death. Her body now would get old, wrinkled, and eventually turn back to dust. Now sin was a part of her new world. Fears, anxieties, evil, and sickness was her reality. Her terrible mistake cost her everything. You know the worst part of this sin? She lost God walking in the Garden of Eden to meet with her and Adam. They were in His presence every single day. They heard the voice of God audibly. They met with God. Now that was gone, too. How painful was that? All due to the “what if” the snake was right and they become like God.

I had allowed the enemy to place a thought in my mind that started a downward spiral of “what ifs.” Each thought scarier than the other to the point my whole body caved into a position of defeat. Thank God the Holy Spirit began speaking truth to me. To seal the deal, God placed a church, with a cross smack in front of me to remind me who I was in Him. God provided the red light. “Stop, Teresa, and wait on me. Don’t go down a path of negative, what ifs. This is not of me. You are believing lies.”

Listen please. God never puts us or others in danger. That’s not God. God doesn’t do evil things nor leads us to do hateful, cruel, and evil things. He leads us down green pastures. Even during challenging times. We trust in His unfailing love. Knowing He has the greatest plans and purposes for us. He holds an unbelievable future for us. We can trust Him in our what ifs. We stay the course of the path and never go down to Egypt.

I admit. I have to feel in control. I mean this in a positive way. I can’t stand the unknown. The unknown sometimes scares me. I have to know the tiniest of details. I have to be prepared. This is not always what God does.

When God leads me down a path where He’s just showing me a moment by moment plan, I go into a panic mode. However, the life of faith is not knowing the moment by moment plan. God told Abraham to leave his home, his family, his people, his everything. He told him He would show him where to go. Abraham did just that. In his going to where God was leading him, he made some major mistakes. He panicked and went on his own way of understanding and it cost him a lot of pain. I know for sure he would never had gone down to those places if he knew the outcome of his mistakes beforehand. His what if scenarios cost him.

Please, understand our mistakes are costly. They end up causing us a lot of pain, misery, and sorrow. They cause us regrets. Many times they are fatal. God showed mercy to Abraham but he still had to pay a great price. I love Sarah. Sarah never said a word against her husband. Never! Imagine he gave her away to two men. What man does that? And what woman wouldn’t tell him off or be deeply hurt by his actions? It was God, that protected her against those two kings. Not Abraham, her husband. He cared for Sarah despite the cowardly actions of Abraham.

Remember, no good thing comes forth from our panic mode. Just like God caused that red light to come my way, God still places red, and stop signs warnings along our path. Let’s not entertain the lies of the enemy to come and steal, kill, and destroy the perfect plan God has for our lives. Let’s leave our burdens of fear, worry, anxiety, dread, confusion, whatever word you want to insert here. Let’s leave them at the cross. That cross represents power and might. It conquered death, fear, and our sins. We have been set free by what Jesus Christ did on that cross. We are conquerors, too!

There is a perfect plan for your life. Don’t let it be stolen by the “what Ifs.” Go after all God has for you, fearless, unmoved, and with faith. Don’t ever give up. Stand on the promises of God. God is real and God looks for hearts that will do what He asks of them. These kinds of people are blessed beyond measure. They allow God to lead them by faith, even when they had a thousand of, “ What ifs?”

Mediate on this truth today. The questionable What ifs?” They do not walk the same paths of the determined “what if.” Don’t miss out on what God has because you turned the “what if” into questions of fear and doubts. Trust your future into the hands of God. He holds your “what Ifs.”

Rev. Dr. Teresa Allissa Citro

Founder and President of Thread of Hope

#TopicArticle #fear #anxiety #worry #phobia #attitude