I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come(Ephesians 1:17-21).

Life has a habit of taking us by surprise. Events catch us off guard and send us reeling.  Events such as Accidents, injury, family stress, divorce, job transfer, layoff , etc…— these are some of the high-stress events that can shake one’s poise.

The danger is that these things can send people into panic mode. When people are in a panic mode they often don’t think logically or rationally. People in panic modes, make totally irresponsible statements. They act without thinking.  When this happens, Harm is often done to relationships that can never be undone.

The same events can shake our theological footing, our faith in God, and our faith in Jesus. Long-resolved doubts often resurface. When long – resolved doubts resurfaces, people often withdraw from Christian friends and stop attending church. They begins to blame God for what is happening in his life or what is NOT happening in their life as a result of their prayers and their seeking Him.

Am I just imagining that people react to life’s sneak attacks in these ways or do you feel me? Haven’t you seen it too? Is some form of a panic mode going on with you right now?

Never heard of  the panic mode? Imagine that your life husband offered you as a sexual playmate to a man you feared. Put yourself in the place of a teenager forced to spend years in jail because of someone’s lie about you and for crimes you didn’t commit. Grasp the hurt of having all of your children killed in the same horrible storm. Keep the bitterness from destroying you when your racial identity has caused some people to deny you your civil rights. These “hypothetical” episodes are the biblical stories of Sarah, Joseph, Job, and Paul.

The people whose life stories we know from the Bible are not figures in stained-glass windows. They were real flesh-and-blood people like you and me. They emerged from their crisis situations in victory mode even though they faced panic modes. Yet they lost precious things and certainly bore scars from what had happened to them, yet they still trusted in, sought after and followed God.

If you life has you in a panic mode right now, you should look to heaven at those bitter junctures of life, ask God to help you solve your problems and fix your troubles, invite Him to reassure your heart. Looking into God’s face changes everything. If you would take more time to seek God’s face and worry less, you would discover there is no sweat on his upper lip. Even if we are shocked and disoriented about what is happening, what hasn’t happened, or what might happen, he is not. Oh, his lip might be quivering with compassion for our pain, but he is sovereign over his universe. Nothing catches him by surprise. He knows precisely how to get his wounded children through their most harrowing life crises. He knows exactly where you hurt. He knows what you have need of and understand if you are very tired and of little strength.

The sounds of a howling mob, a whip ripping into bare flesh, and a hammer driving nails into hands and feet were overwhelming sounds — until the tomb was found empty. The same power that raised Jesus then sustains us now, so don’t react and get in a panic mode, God’s got you and He has everything under control, even the weather.

So, when you feel you are about to lose it, visualize God’s upper lip. Trust his promises. Know you are not alone. Wait patiently for the victory.