miedo o creencia (fear or belief)

In just a few short days, God gave us 3 great opportunities to choose trust over fear. Last week the San Jose news ran a program about a park in our city that has been taken over by a Chinese gang. The police gave public notice that they leave the park between the hours of 10 at night and 5 in the morning because they are afraid of the gangs that deal drugs and sell arms in the park. This park is 3 blocks from our front door and we walk through it every morning on our way to school. Will we choose to fear or believe? A few days later we flew to Tegucigalpa, Honduras to visit the church where we will be serving after language school. When we arrived and were greeted by the pastor of the church, he informed us that a woman from the church had just been kidnapped and was being held for ransom. Unfortunately, this has happened several times this year because the people at the church are fairly affluent. Will I choose to panic or trust as I follow God to the place He wants us to serve? The night that we returned from Honduras, our city was without power because someone STOLE one of the main power lines. (The copper inside the power line is worth a lot of money.) So we lit some candles, grabbed flashlights and sang songs and told stories to Reagan. A few hours later the power returned. At about 9:30 we heard some strange sounds and some loud thumps on our roof. There was an intruder on our roof. Mark grabbed our huge maglight, yelled in Spanish for the thief to leave and called our guard. The guard checked our roof to make sure the intruder had left, and we thanked God for protecting us from the person who was trying to take advantage of the dark to rob a house. Will we choose to believe or fear? When my heart starts thumping quickly or I let my imagination go places which are not helpful, will I ask the Spirit to take control of my mind, heart and emotions? It's a daily battle, but the only thing I fear more is not following God where He wants me to go. When I choose worry over belief, I am telling God that I don't think He is big enough for my problem. Don't worry. We're living wisely. We asked our landlord to put barbed wire on our fence. We hide valuable belongings in the house every time we leave. We hold Reagan's hand on the street; and we walk in the park during safe hours. But I don't trust in the fence or barbed wire. I trust in a good, powerful, loving and wise God who has my best in mind. Not only has He promised to protect me, He has also promised that He is big enough to take me through whatever circumstances He places in my life. God, please help me to have the strength to live this out.