All of my early life was ruled by fear. I was afraid of my mother, afraid of other children, afraid of people, afraid of heights, afraid of the dark, afraid of dying, afraid of car accidents, afraid of the future, afraid of going to the hospital, afraid of not getting to the hospital in time, afraid of every possible thing that could happen to me. I had countless fears until a spirit of fear controlled my life.

Once I became a believer and learned to truly trust God, I read in the Bible where God said, “‘For the oppression of the poor, for the sighing of the needy, now I will arise,’ says the Lᴏʀᴅ; ‘I will set him in the safety for which he yearns’” (Psalm 12:5, emphasis added).

I realized then that God had put me and my family in a place of safety I had yearned for for so many years. And not only did I not recognize it at the time, I was complaining about it. The truth is that the will of God is a place of safety. But that doesn’t mean nothing bad will ever happen. It means that even when something bad does happen, we can sense God's hand of protection and peace in it. 

God's peace and safety are not things I ever want to take for granted. The apostle Paul wrote about the day of the Lord that will come. He said, "You yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night…But you…are not in darkness, so that this Day should overtake you as a thief" (1 Thessalonians 5:2-4). 

The "day of the Lord" is the return of Christ that will come unexpectedly, just like a thief in the night. But the good news for us who believe in God and have received His Son and live in His will, we will not live in darkness about this. We will not be taken by surprise. That's because we are sons and daughters of the light. We are no longer in the dark. Because we have Jesus, we have the light of His Holy Spirit in us revealing important things to us.  

We don’t have to live in fear and anxiety about the future when we are walking with God. He will always take us to a place of safety. God can even turn the place where we are into a place of safety when we turn to Him. Or He may lift us out of it, or walk us through it to the place of safety He has for us. God's place of ultimate safety can be found in trusting Him and staying in His light and His will.

That is what I plan to do. And to help others do the same.

Read more of Stormie Omartian's incredible testimony in Out of Darkness: My Story of Finding True Light and Liberation.