I slouched in my chair absorbed in a book when Micah interrupted my concentration with his mindless chatter. I heard him blabbering about whatever was on his three-year-old mind. Something pressed within me, so I set my book down. A few seconds later, he looked at me with his big brown eyes and said, “But what happens when mommies and daddies are kilt? When you and daddy are kilt, I will miss you and I will be all alone.” His eyes puddled with tears of fear instead of the carefree bliss that should have been there. No, I thought…No, God, don’t let his peace be disrupted by such horrific thoughts. Let me deal with those thoughts, not him.

How many times have I raced through that same scenario allowing fear to boil up? The enemy had already begun plaguing his innocence with worry; I had to respond. I did the only thing that came to mind. Scooping him up in my arms, I said, “Micah, bad things happen, but Jesus holds us through it all, just like I am holding you now.” Then I prayed as fervently as I knew how, using words that I hoped Micah could understand.

As much as I wanted to say that we wouldn’t be killed anytime soon, I couldn’t’ because I didn’t know what could happen tomorrow. One of the biggest lies out there is that God is going to shield us from tragedy and heartache after we become a Christian. No. If you have been following Christ for any amount of time, you know this not to be true. Christians suffer often times more than the nonbeliever for we become a target to the enemy as soon as Christ begins to work in our lives.

“In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. 7 These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.”

1 Peter 1:6-7

The Bible is clear in saying that we will endure hardships. It is definitely in God’s power to save us from anything he chooses to, but that does not mean that we will not face grief. God refines us through these trials. He burns away all of the impurities in those times. Like Paul, we should embrace these difficulties resting in the knowledge and peace that God is drawing us nearer to himself.

I won’t ever understand why my little boy insists on heaping life’s anxieties on his small shoulders, but God will have to take that worry away as Micah grows, just like he takes away my own worry for I know that God will hold me dearly when the things I fear most do happen. Considering this, I hope and pray that, when the time comes, we will have the faith to dance with Jesus in our spirits as the fire surrounds us resting in the joy that he is drawing us near.