{"id":1542,"date":"2020-04-28T17:49:29","date_gmt":"2020-04-28T17:49:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/safeplacewithruthgraham\/?p=1542"},"modified":"2020-04-28T17:49:29","modified_gmt":"2020-04-28T17:49:29","slug":"fear","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/safeplacewithruthgraham\/2020\/04\/fear.html","title":{"rendered":"FEAR!!"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Faster than the corona virus is spreading, fear is spreading. Fear has gripped our country &#8211; our world. It&#8217;s a scary place right now. There is nothing and no-one not talking about it. When you meet someone on the street (10 feet apart) &#8211; it is the main topic of discussion.<\/p>\n<p>And the more we discuss it, it seems the less we find solutions. <\/p>\n<p>The experts have been wrong. All the cleverly designed models by the experts have proven to be wrong and yet we based all this national shut-down on those models and experts. <\/p>\n<p>Yes, the virus is bad. I know some who have contracted it. Yes, people have died. And my heart goes out to the families who were not able to be by their loved one&#8217;s side. It&#8217;s tragic.<\/p>\n<p>But worse than the virus is the fear and what it is doing to our mental health &#8211; the rates of suicide, depression, abuse, alcoholism&#8230; And what are the long-term effects on our children as they stay home from school losing ground academically.<\/p>\n<p>So much to consider and fear. But God tells us not to fear. He say &#8220;Fear Not&#8221; 366 times. One for each day and one for Leap Year! He is serious about this message getting through to us. FEAR NOT!<\/p>\n<p>Easier said than done. Just exactly how does God expect us to do that? <\/p>\n<p>We need to battle back. And feed our joy. Our hope. Our confidence in God. <\/p>\n<p>The Apostle Paul tells us how: &#8220;Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made know to God. And ht peace of god, which surpasses all comprehension, shall guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there be any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, let your mind dwell on these things.&#8221; (Philipians 4:6-8)<\/p>\n<p>That will transform our fear into faith.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Faster than the corona virus is spreading, fear is spreading. Fear has gripped our country &#8211; our world. It&#8217;s a scary place right now. There is nothing and no-one not talking about it. When you meet someone on the street (10 feet apart) &#8211; it is the main topic of discussion. And the more we&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":466,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18,20,14,87,43,84,33,81,355,88,29,511],"tags":[175,516,543,307,167,283,115,292,264,92,289,493],"class_list":["post-1542","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-commentary","category-current-issues-in-the-news","category-god","category-medical-research","category-peace","category-praise","category-prayer","category-tragedy","category-transformation","category-uncertainty","category-unexpected-storms-of-life","category-virus","tag-anxiety","tag-corona-virus","tag-experts","tag-faith","tag-fear","tag-fear-not-tomorrow","tag-god","tag-peace","tag-praise","tag-prayer","tag-stress","tag-virus"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>FEAR!! - Safe Place with Ruth Graham<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/safeplacewithruthgraham\/2020\/04\/fear.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"FEAR!! - Safe Place with Ruth Graham\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Faster than the corona virus is spreading, fear is spreading. Fear has gripped our country &#8211; our world. It&#8217;s a scary place right now. There is nothing and no-one not talking about it. When you meet someone on the street (10 feet apart) &#8211; it is the main topic of discussion. And the more we&hellip;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/safeplacewithruthgraham\/2020\/04\/fear.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Safe Place with Ruth Graham\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-04-28T17:49:29+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Ruth Graham\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"FEAR!! - Safe Place with Ruth Graham","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/safeplacewithruthgraham\/2020\/04\/fear.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"FEAR!! - Safe Place with Ruth Graham","og_description":"Faster than the corona virus is spreading, fear is spreading. Fear has gripped our country &#8211; our world. It&#8217;s a scary place right now. There is nothing and no-one not talking about it. When you meet someone on the street (10 feet apart) &#8211; it is the main topic of discussion. And the more we&hellip;","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/safeplacewithruthgraham\/2020\/04\/fear.html","og_site_name":"Safe Place with Ruth Graham","article_published_time":"2020-04-28T17:49:29+00:00","author":"Ruth Graham","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/safeplacewithruthgraham\/2020\/04\/fear.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/safeplacewithruthgraham\/2020\/04\/fear.html","name":"FEAR!! - Safe Place with Ruth Graham","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/safeplacewithruthgraham\/#website"},"datePublished":"2020-04-28T17:49:29+00:00","dateModified":"2020-04-28T17:49:29+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/safeplacewithruthgraham\/#\/schema\/person\/76d20e190c3b83823997a9f422b86975"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/safeplacewithruthgraham\/2020\/04\/fear.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/safeplacewithruthgraham\/2020\/04\/fear.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/safeplacewithruthgraham\/2020\/04\/fear.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/safeplacewithruthgraham"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"FEAR!!"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/safeplacewithruthgraham\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/safeplacewithruthgraham\/","name":"Safe Place with Ruth Graham","description":"Beliefnet Voices - Ruth Graham","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/safeplacewithruthgraham\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/safeplacewithruthgraham\/#\/schema\/person\/76d20e190c3b83823997a9f422b86975","name":"Ruth Graham","description":"\u201cTransparent\u201d is the word most people use to describe Ruth Graham. No stranger to heartache, she seeks to provide a Biblical perspective to her journey of faith. She is warm and talks openly about her own need for a safe place as she journeyed through her husband\u2019s infidelities, her subsequent depression, her divorces, her teenage daughter\u2019s two unplanned pregnancies, another daughter\u2019s bulimia, her son\u2019s battle with drugs, grandson's special needs and returning to school at age 40. Although born into the \"famous\" Graham family Ruth did not feel she had a safe place to unburden the secrets of her life. She felt she had to project and image and wear a mask that she \"had it all together\". She had to meet others' expectations of her. It was not until a mid-life crisis did that she fully discover the unconditional love and grace of God. Her life's passion is to connect people to that same grace and love she found, no matter who they are or what sin. Ruth is an experienced conference speaker and Bible teacher. She has appeared on a variety of radio and television shows including: Good Morning, America, The Hour of Power, Focus on the Family, Moody Broadcasting, Fox &amp; Friends, CBN, Life Today and CNN. She has worked in publishing for over 14 years and is the founder of the Ruth Graham &amp; Friends Ministry. Ruth has three grown children and nine grandchildren. She lives in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. Her life Bible verse is John 1:16.","sameAs":["http:\/\/ruthgrahamministries.com"],"url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/safeplacewithruthgraham\/author\/rgraham"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/safeplacewithruthgraham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1542","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/safeplacewithruthgraham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/safeplacewithruthgraham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/safeplacewithruthgraham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/466"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/safeplacewithruthgraham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1542"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/safeplacewithruthgraham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1542\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1545,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/safeplacewithruthgraham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1542\/revisions\/1545"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/safeplacewithruthgraham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1542"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/safeplacewithruthgraham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1542"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/safeplacewithruthgraham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1542"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}