My wife and I were traveling late one moonless night. We were far away from any lights or civilization. The road we were on was totally empty of any other traffic. It was dark. The kind of dark that almost devours light making a car’s headlights seem dim. We were traveling slowly because of the low visibility when suddenly a shape and a face flashed before us.

A friend of mine was in the hospital facing a grim diagnosis. Though it was something she could have fought, her mind was so clouded with conspiracies she didn’t have any ground to stand on. I visited her on one of her dark days. She was striking out against the doctors and even against her husband for she thought they were all trying to kill her. With eyes wide, she was pleading for anyone to take her side.

In the mountains of Tennessee, I climbed down into a dark crevice that opened up in the side of a 300 foot drop off. There were no guard rails, no stairs, and the bottom of the crevice angled toward the drop. A woman came down behind me and within moments froze. Her arms and legs locked which lifted her off of the safe seating she had. Her breathing became panicked with short gasps and unintelligible words came from her mouth.

We pulled off the road to figure out what just happened. I knew I didn’t hit anything but with the form and face came a cry. I stepped out of the car telling my wife to lock the doors and get into the driver’s seat. I walked back to find that the shape turned out to be an African lady who had been trapped on that road with a flat tire for who knows how long. She was beyond reasoning so I told her I was going to get my wife to help her.

I tried to reason with my friend, telling her that God is with her. And we have confidence in His goodwill toward us. That her disease was nothing compared to His power. I tried to slowly give her ground that was more solid than the shadowy conspiracies filling her mind.

I pulled myself back up to the woman behind me and stood in front of her face blocking any view of the opening and the drop and told her to breathe.

My wife gave her a hug while I put on the spare. She told her what I was doing and what the plan was which slowly calmed her down. My wife gained a little bit of her trust, but not enough to exchange phone numbers. As soon as the spare was on, she was off without even a goodbye.

I saw a break in the wave of hysteria when I began to talk to her about Jesus. I didn’t ask any questions, I didn’t want to hear her speak. I saw in her eyes a glimmer of determination. It was enough.

The woman began to breathe more normally and she sat back down for a moment before I guided her to turn around and head back out.

Each of these moments revealed to me the truth of how love drives out fear. Love got the lady with the flat moving again. Love dispelled the shadows attacking my friend. Love turned the woman around who was facing the drop. We are loved in the most perfect way through Jesus. 1 John 4:18, “There is no fear in love.” And we are always in His love.

These days, our society seems saturated with fear. Laws are written because of it, airports have to sift through it, even our cars are being made with the technology to fight against it. It is in these days that Christians stand out, and it’s not because of hate that they do. It is because of love and the lack of fear that dominates everyone else’s lives.

Walk in the power that is yours followers of Jesus. Fear is the ocean. Let us show this world who is the Lord as we follow Him on top of the waves.

-Brian Carter