The Rock…

By: Shanna Cole

Joshua 1:9

Have I not commanded you, Be strong and of good courage, do not be afraid nor dismayed for the Lord, your God, will be with you wherever you go. 

Today I was asked at my work to attend a chamber of commerce coffee, for a business in our town. This is completely out of my comfort zone. To me those are something the “big wigs” of our town do, most definitely not me. I was a nervous wreck. What if I wore the wrong thing? What if I said the wrong thing to someone by accident? I am a nervous talker, ya know. Needless to say I was TERRIFIED.

I had sat in my car, for what seemed like forever, waiting to see a familiar face walking in that I could latch onto, so I wouldn’t be so nervous. Well the closer it got to the time I was to be in the building, the more I realized, I may be strolling into this thing alone and I was sweating bullets. Not fully knowing what to expect. I said a prayer, took a deep breath and walked on inside the building at our local county fairgrounds. See, in our little town we have an annual fair. Everyone is allowed to attend and enter items they have created throughout the year. It could be something as small as a picture they have taken or drawn, to something as big as a steer they have raised and fed. 

So, I’m in the building trying to dodge any large groups of people and stay as far away from the “it” people of our town as I could, until someone from our company that I knew showed up. As I was cruising around looking at entries, I happened to notice a small rock a kid had painted. It was eye level with me and I almost missed this category’s display all together. I still couldn’t tell you the painting that was on top of the rock. Right there in squiggly black ink they had written Joshua 1:9. Shew, I thought I was going to fall over. I was walking around sweating bullets, scared to death for no reason because right there in my face was the Lord saying, HELLO!!! I am right here! I never sent you in here alone. I don’t know why you are scared. I prepared you to be here or you wouldn’t be in the first place. God was with me. I knew it, but I needed that reminder and he knew it. 

How often do we forget that God has a plan for us. He is with us throughout every moment of every day. Some days it may be super scary, he may end up sending us into things we think are so far out of our comfort zone, how could we not stand out like a sore thumb. We have to remember he is with us and he will give us everything we need to succeed, as long as we listen to him and his guidance.I struggle every day with feeling alone in a room full of people. This was my reminder today that no matter how scared or nervous I become, he will never leave me and I am never alone. The same goes for you. If you ask God into your heart and to go with you every day, he is just waiting on you to call out to him.