Last week, I met a friend for lunch.  We ordered our food and sat down to catch up.  She’s one of these friends where  we just pick right up where we left off, no matter how long time has passed by. Life usually only lets us see each other every few months, so we jumped right in. No formalities- you just dive into the nitty gritty of the conversation.

Her mom had suffered a stroke towards the end of last year but was now back to work with very little limitations.  She was still concerned about her mom’s health and the health of her aging in-laws who live in another state. In turn, I told her about my concerns for my parent’s health and well-being.  She talked about how her son was doing as the school year was wrapping up and what their plans were for the summer.  I shared about my kids as well, their struggles and their victories.  We discussed the shooting that had happened recently near my home.  We talked about how we were concerned for our kids’ safety and their mental health.  We both agreed that the recent events in our world were making us fearful of sending our kids out or even going out ourselves.

As we talked, we both acknowledged how there is so much pressing on us from all sides.  We were worried about our parents, worried about our kids, worried about just leaving the house and returning home safely.

What do we do with all this fear? Therapy? Probably a good idea.  Medication? Maybe not.

We decided on prayer.  We ended our conversation by lifting up each other and our families in prayers.  I will readily admit that I am not this holy.  I do not usually end conversations this way, but this lunch felt so heavy that there was no other way to punctuate it. As we look around at the world around us, the most powerful thing we can do is pray for each other.  Pray for strength to move forward, wisdom before speaking, and courage to act.

Later that afternoon, I sent her this song, from Ryan Ellis, that I have had on repeat.  If your struggling with fear like I have been the past few days, I hope it helps you.

A few of the lyrics:

You hear my cry, my deepest pain
You listen patiently as long as it takes
You whisper truth over the lies
The words that bring me back to life
Everything’s gonna be alright
Everything’s gonna be alright
You hold me Your arms
Until my storm is calm
Everything’s gonna be alright
Everything’s gonna be alright