Dinner: Even if...

By Adrienne Terada

For our devotional this evening, I thought we should all examine our hearts and minds for any fear that may be residing there. There are different types of fear. There is irrational fear, rational fear, fear that comes from daily worries, and fear of impending danger. Fear is a stronghold used by satan to keep us from realizing freedom in Christ, and all of us have some type of fearful thoughts from time to time. Some of us are consumed by fear.

When we dwell on our fear, our thoughts will start to spit out "What if...." questions:

• What if I lose my job or business.
• What if I lose my house.
• What if I don't pass my test or meet my deadline.
• What if I don't get into the college I want.
• What if I lose my retirement in a stock market crash.
• What if my car breaks down.
• What if my health keeps declining to the point that I can't fulfill my responsibilities.
• What if I never find a spouse.
• What if I lose a spouse or a child.

Last fall, I learned something from a speaker at a women's conference that changed my life. She told us to replace our "what if's" with "even if's". I was always known as somewhat of a worrier, but when I was blessed with a child whose health ailments put our life on the verge of impending danger around every turn, fear and worry started to consume me. It robbed me of my joy, my peace, and my freedom. I came home from the conference that day and put my new tool for conquering fear into practice. It took a lot of retraining of my mind, but after months of speaking "even if..." statements to myself, I found freedom from fear. And because I found freedom from fear, I forgot about my tool until a couple of weeks ago. Someone repeated the question to me, "What if Adam never recovers?" Immediately, my mind jumped to, "Even if Adam never recovers...God is still God, God is still our provider, God is still faithful, God is still loving, God is still in control, God is still holding us in His hands."

As my Dad talked about already, the storms in life will come, but we can not fear the storms. We must trust in the fact that God will be with us through the storms, and that He is in control. Practice turning your "What if..." statements into "Even if..." statements this week and watch your faith grow as you experience freedom from fear.

Joshua 1:9
Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.

I was not planning on using this song again today, but as I was typing it just seemed fitting.




My prayer is that all of you will come to a new level of freedom this week as you trust in the fact that God is still God, He is always with us, and He is our victory always!!! We always have a reason to sing and worship God even if tragedy, disappointment, and loss strike us!!!

Pray today that Adam's friends and family can replace the "What if's..." in this daily journey with "Even if's...".