Karen’s Notes
Celebrating Six Years of Sharing from this Glory-Bound Lady
Volume 6 Number 10
Posting # 254 “When Uncertainty was Met with Security!”
March 8th, 2023

A glance back eight years ago in time. Something I want you to know about Karen.
It will be six years ago in April that Karen went Home to be with the Lord.
It was eight years ago right now that we were learning how seriously ill this up-until-now extremely healthy lady really was.

There was no cure for stage four adenocarcinoma. Though she never smoked one day in her life, this horrible lung cancer had already spread to numerous spots in her body. I was with Karen publicly, and obviously I was with Karen privately, on the adventure with cancer. What people saw and heard in public is exactly what I saw at home. While she didn’t enjoy having cancer, she didn’t fall apart. Of course, there were tears as she didn’t want me to be alone. She didn’t want her children and grandchildren to be hurting. And yet, friends, there was a quiet sense of security about which she knew.

We talked about everything. She was concerned about our friends, family and me but not about herself. She often told me that never had she felt so secure in the midst of such great uncertainty. Then I found her notes about “security.” They are so encouraging to me. Here is the verse:

“But now thus saith the LORD that created thee, O Jacob, and He that formed thee, O Israel, Fear not: for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name; thou art mine” (Isaiah 43:1).

What a great reminder. Here’s what she wrote one day about security in the midst of uncertainty, based on Isaiah 43:1.
1. It is POWERFUL “I have redeemed thee” (1a).
2. It is PERSONAL “I have called thee by name” (1b)
3. It is PRECIOUS “Thou art mine” (1c)
Because of these three, “FEAR NOT!”

Here’s my takeaway.
We believers ought never live in denial, pretending everything is all right when it isn’t. We need to be honest as to how we are feeling and what we are thinking. Each of us will sooner or later face uncertain times and quite naturally, there will be moments of fear.

Can we claim Isaiah 43:1 and immediately have it easy? No.
Can we follow some sort of list and all our fears disappear? No.
Can we strike some sort of deal with God and everything changes? No.

But as we consider His powerful, personal, and precious promises to us as found in Isaiah 43:1, it is quite amazing the blessings that come in the form of security which whispers, “Fear not.”

Let me send you on your way with a smile.
A group of botanists went on an expedition into a hard-to-reach location in the Alps, searching for new varieties of flowers. One day as a scientist looked through his binoculars, he saw a beautiful, rare species growing at the bottom of a deep ravine. To reach it, someone would have to be lowered into that gorge. Noticing a local youngster standing nearby, the man asked him if he would help them get the flower. The boy was told that a rope would be tied around his waist and the men would then lower him to the floor of the canyon. Excited yet apprehensive about the adventure, the youngster peered thoughtfully into the chasm. “Wait,” he said, “I’ll be back,” and off he dashed. When he returned, he was accompanied by an older man. Approaching the head botanist, the boy said, “I’ll go over the cliff now and get the flower for you, but this man must hold onto the rope. He’s my dad!” Our Daily Bread
When you feel like you are at the end of your rope, remember Who is holding the end of your rope!