Be not afraid, only believe Mark 5:36

 I want to start off by introducing myself.  My name is Brooke Rosen, and my Mormon birthday is coming up this week.  On April 13^th, I’ll be 8!  I have 3 children, Hannah is 13, Elijah is 10, and Leah is 8.  And for the past two years, I’ve been a single, working mom.  I am a school speech language pathologist for EVSC.  My schools are Daniel Wertz Elementary, Perry Heights Middle School, and Reitz High School.  I was completely unfamiliar with the west side of Evansville until August 2014 J . My closest family members, beyond my children, live 700 miles away, and this ward has become my family. 

I actually volunteered to give a talk, which I generally enjoy, though I am nervous.  I’ve had a month to prepare, but it didn’t really come together as quickly as I thought it would.  I guess I’m one of those that “fills the time available”.  The topic Bishop asked me to speak on is “Be Not Afraid, Only Believe”.

Now, I didn’t realize that Bishop Daines was going to preach a sermon on this passage on Easter, but I suppose, you can never hear a good scripture passage too many times.

I want to read the story behind this quote.  It’s in Mark 5, starting in verse 21.
21 Jesus got into the boat again and went back to the other side of the lake, where a large crowd gathered around him on the shore. 22 Then a leader of the local synagogue, whose name was Jairus, arrived. When he saw Jesus, he fell at his feet, 23 pleading fervently with him. “My little daughter is dying,” he said. “Please come and lay your hands on her; heal her so she can live.”

24 Jesus went with him, and all the people followed, crowding around him.

{we are going to skip the story of the woman with the issue of blood}

35 While he was still speaking to her, messengers arrived from the home of Jairus, the leader of the synagogue. They told him, “Your daughter is dead. There’s no use troubling the Teacher now.”

36 But Jesus overheard[d] them and said to Jairus, “Don’t be afraid. Just have faith.”

37 Then Jesus stopped the crowd and wouldn’t let anyone go with him except Peter, James, and John (the brother of James). 38 When they came to the home of the synagogue leader, Jesus saw much commotion and weeping and wailing. 39 He went inside and asked, “Why all this commotion and weeping? The child isn’t dead; she’s only asleep.”

40 The crowd laughed at him. But he made them all leave, and he took the girl’s father and mother and his three disciples into the room where the girl was lying. 41 Holding her hand, he said to her, “Talitha koum,” which means “Little girl, get up!” 42 And the girl, who was twelve years old, immediately stood up and walked around! They were overwhelmed and totally amazed. 43 Jesus gave them strict orders not to tell anyone what had happened, and then he told them to give her something to eat.

Jairus is a lot like us.  He has the faith to ask Jesus for help in the beginning.  That’s pretty easy, I think.  Things start to get rough, a loved one gets sick, or we need an answer.  That first prayer is pretty easy.  But what happens when things get worse before they get better? Maybe the loved one gets worse or even dies.  What if we don’t get the answer we want, or we don’t seem to get any answer at all?  What then?  That’s when we have to dig a little deeper, and “fear not, only believe”

The last talk I gave was in Feb 2014.  My family was getting ready to move to a tiny town in Kansas.  I had prayed for friends in this new town, and God had provided.  However, life didn’t go according to MY plan, and my former husband ended up moving without us. 

I WAS afraid.  I had not worked full time in 10 years, though I had worked very part time, every other weekend the previous year.  However, I did know what I needed to do.  I had exactly one job interview and easily secured a full time position.  I remain thankful that I listened to earlier promptings that told me to keep my certification and licenses up to date.  There were many years where I nearly let them lapse. 

I KNOW God has blessings waiting for my family.  They likely are not what I’m expecting or planning myself.  I constantly make plans for how things could be better for my little family.  How could I work fewer hours and still earn enough money to pay the mortgage?  Should I move closer to my family?  I just have to remember to pray about decisions and wait to see if doors open or not.  Fear not, only believe.

I want to share a story with you.  When I got the topic for this talk, I thought this would be the perfect story, and at that point I thought it had a nice, happy, miraculous ending.  I was wrong.  I don’t know what the end will be, because it’s still just the middle of the story.

I have a friend named Jim.  He has been having some health issues since November or so.  Every time I talked to him, the doctor’s had told him some new diagnosis for his aches and pains.  First, he was told he was having withdrawal symptoms from taking Lyrica for a month.  Then, they thought he’d cracked a rib or two after having a month of coughing from a respiratory infection.  Then, the pain was from pleurisy.  Then, the doctor thought maybe he had kidney stones, so an x-ray was taken.  Turns out he has a hole in his pelvic bone the size of a silver dollar.  The doctor said it was probably bone cancer, but if it was what he thought it was it would be pretty easily treated.  Blood tests were run to confirm the diagnosis of bone cancer and a PET scan was ordered.  The blood work came back negative for bone cancer.  However, the news came across as “not cancer”.  This is where I thought the end of the story would be a few weeks back.  Jim was feeling like prayers had been answered…  But then he had the PET scan.  The real diagnosis is Stage 4 lung cancer that has metastasized to 7 places in his bones.  That diagnosis was like falling off a cliff after thinking he had no cancer.   His prognosis is still good with new medications that directly target the mutated cancer cells.  There are a few different medications he can take and they each target about 5 specific mutations.  He has each of those 5 mutations, which is very unusual.  There’s only a 5% chance that each of his mutations would match up with the medication. I believe that makes it a 1 in 3,200,000 chance.  Every time I get an update from Jim, things continue to sound positive.

However, Stage 4 Cancer.  Those are scary words.
I don’t know how this story ends.  I mean I know the END ending of this story… it’s the same as our story in the end.  But I don’t know how the “Jim has Cancer” story ends.  Jesus says, “Fear not, only believe”.

I’ve shared this story in the past, but there are so many new faces in our ward, it seems safe to share again.  This is what caused me to investigate the church for the SECOND time.  My friend Venita now has 10 kids, but this happened back when she just had 6.  Christian Alexander was born July 16, 2003, when Hannah was 9 months old.  Fast forward to August 2004.  Venita sent out a message to the Yahoo mommy group we were both members of.  “Christian is very sick, please pray for him.”  At that point in my life, I didn’t attend church, but I had strong faith in Jesus Christ.  I prayed that Christian would be healed, and I put him out of my mind.  The next message from Venita was shocking.  Christian had died.  He was born with a brain malformation that caused fluid to build up on his brain.  By the time they got him to the hospital, it was too late.  I was devastated because, I HAD PRAYED FOR THAT BABY, and he died anyway.  Venita mentioned that her husband had given her a priesthood blessing.  I didn’t know what that meant, but I KNEW I had to find out about it.  I called a grieving mother, who I only knew through a Yahoo group, on the phone to hear about her priesthood blessing.  After a lot of crying she said that in her blessing it was stated that “Christian died to bring others to Christ”.  Venita was CERTAIN that meant me, but honestly, I wanted no part of that!  That was way too scary for me to consider.  Could that happen?  Could a 13 month old baby die so that I would get my act together?  Maybe.  It certainly started me moving that direction (I didn’t join the church for 4 more years).  Not only did I find the Restored Gospel, but so have my three children.
We can’t see the bigger picture in that terrifying moment, but God knows what it will become. 
Jesus says, “Fear not, only believe.”

I spend at least 40 minutes in the car every school day commuting to and from work.  I fill that time with KLOVE radio.  When I give a talk or teach a class, I often am reminded of a song from KLOVE.  I actually have two that I want to share today.  The first one is

Sparrows – Jason Gray

You can’t add a single day

by worrying, you’ll worry your life away

don’t worry your life away

You can’t change a single thing

by freakin’ out, it’s just gonna close you in

don’t let the trouble win

You may feel alone, but you’re not on your own

If He can hold the world, He can hold this moment

Not a field or flower escapes His notice

Even the sparrow knows He holds tomorrow

Lean in, it’s hard to miss

everything can change when you make it His

He wants to carry it

Care free, in the care of God

when you let it go, you’ll find that He’s enough

You never leave His love,You don’t walk alone

If He can hold the world He can hold this moment

Not a field or flower escapes His notice

even the sparrow knows, He holds tomorrow

There’s not a single star that’s out of place

There’s nothing broken He can’t remake

If you long for hope when you’re afraid

Look at the sparrow

During my recent Scripture study, I’ve found so many verses that I want to share.  The first one is

Luke 11:5-13 NLT

Then, teaching them more about prayer, he used this story: “Suppose you went to a friend’s house at midnight, wanting to borrow three loaves of bread. You say to him, A friend of mine has just arrived for a visit, and I have nothing for him to eat. And suppose he calls out from his bedroom, ‘Don’t bother me. The door is locked for the night, and my family and I are all in bed. I can’t help you.’ But I tell you this—though he won’t do it for friendship’s sake, if you keep knocking long enough, he will get up and give you whatever you need because of your shameless persistence. “And so I tell you, keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.”

You fathers—if your children ask for a fish, do you give them a snake instead? Or if they ask for an egg, do you give them a scorpion? Of course not! So if you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him.””

Luke 11:5-13 NLT

I love those verses!  Jesus is telling us to keep pestering Heavenly Father with our prayers.  Honestly, that does sound like an older brother, doesn’t it?

Here’s another

“Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.”

Philippians 4:6-7 NLT

And one more

“Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles of any kind come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing.”

James 1:2-4 NLT

Now this song, I heard on my way home from work on Friday when I realized I had to include it.

Trust in You – Lauren Daigle

Letting go of every single dream

I lay each one down at Your feet

Every moment of my wandering

Never changes what You see

I’ve tried to win this war I confess

My hands are weary I need Your rest

Mighty Warrior, King of the fight

No matter what I face, You’re by my side

When You don’t move the mountains I’m needing You to move

When You don’t part the waters I wish I could walk through

When You don’t give the answers as I cry out to You

I will trust, I will trust, I will trust in You!

Truth is, You know what tomorrow brings

There’s not a day ahead You have not seen

So, in all things be my life and breath

I want what You want Lord and nothing less

When You don’t move the mountains I’m needing You to move

When You don’t part the waters I wish I could walk through

When You don’t give the answers as I cry out to You

I will trust, I will trust, I will trust in You!

You are my strength and comfort

You are my steady hand

You are my firm foundation; the rock on which I stand

Your ways are always higher

Your plans are always good

There’s not a place where I’ll go, You’ve not already stood

When You don’t move the mountains I’m needing You to move

When You don’t part the waters I wish I could walk through

When You don’t give the answers as I cry out to You

I will trust, I will trust, I will trust in You!

***

Think about Moses and Red Sea.  There he was stuck between a rock and a hard place.  God tells him to strike the water with his staff.  I can imagine Jesus whispering to him “Fear not, only believe”

Or what about David and Goliath?  The Israelites were terrified, but that young man, David knew what to do.  He was humble, and he knew the Lord would help him.  He was able to Fear not, and only believe.

Remember Shadrach, Meshach, Abednigo?  They weren’t afraid of the consequences of choosing the right.  I somehow doubt that they thought they would survive the burning furnace, but the certainly were able to Fear not, only believe

Even Jesus when He prayed in the Garden of Gethsemene.  He asked if there was another way.  He will always tell us “Fear Not, Always Believe”.

That doesn’t mean everything will turn out the way we want, expect, or plan.   But it will turn out the way HE planned.  We know how it all ends, and we win. 

I want to  bear my testimony that I know….