In February 2021, I moved to Austin. My son tried to persuade me to take a fourth-floor apartment because the wildlife habitat next door had a beautiful view. That view didn\u2019t matter to me. I didn\u2019t want to wait for an elevator, and I wanted an apartment easily accessible to my car.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I\u2019m glad I followed my instincts. Within a few months living here, I heard the clamor of the loudest earthmoving equipment breaking through boulders and taking down trees. The new Texas Children\u2019s Hospital would be our next-door neighbor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now the hospital is completed. It is a joy to know many children have this beautiful facility and team to bring them healing and wholeness. I wanted to volunteer there. I was interviewed and attended their training that included their first line of defense procedures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The first line of defense is knowing where the fire pulls and extinguishers are, as well as knowing the color codes and alerts in case of security issues as well as many other emergency procedures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In my personal life, I have known my absolute first line of defense when words I hear shake me to my core, like: \u201cYour daughter has cystic fibrosis!\u201d \u201cOur house is on fire!\u201d \u201cYour mother only has hours to live!\u201d \u201cHe was in a car accident!\u201d I wish my first line of defense in all those instances had been \u201cI will not be afraid. I believe God has me and He will work all things for good!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A great lesson comes from Mark 5:35-36. Jairus, a synagogue leader, came to Jesus begging him to go with him to heal his dying daughter. As Jesus was going with him, people from Jairus’ house came saying, \u201cYour daughter is dead. Why bother the teacher anymore?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Here\u2019s my favorite line (the first line of defense) from Jesus to Jairus when He overheard their words: \u201cDon\u2019t be afraid; just believe.\u201d I can visualize that setting — Jesus putting a finger up to his lips (\u201cShush — don\u2019t speak!\u201d).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhy bother?\u201d Isn\u2019t that what the naysayers and doubters say and isn\u2019t that what the enemy of our souls wants us to say? It\u2019s the whisper we hear when the bad news comes. “Give up. It\u2019s hopeless.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Two little words change everything. \u201cBut Jesus.\u201d His message is different. \u201cDon\u2019t be afraid; just believe.\u201d WAIT! Jesus isn\u2019t finished. He took her by the hand and said: “Little girl, get up!\u201d The girl stood up and began to walk around.\u201d (Mark 5:41-42)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Above, I quoted lines from \u201cmy story\u201d. \u201cYour daughter has cystic fibrosis!\u201d But Jesus — that little girl was dramatically healed, has a 5-\u00bd octave vocal range and daily lives to share the good news of Jesus. \u201cOur house is on fire!\u201d Those were our daughter\u2019s words when their home was burning. But Jesus — they were all safe, their insurance covered their losses, and they rebuilt the home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYour mother only has hours to live!\u201d But Jesus — Mom recovered and lived a full life for another eight years. \u201cHe was in a car accident!\u201d But Jesus — our son survived what could have easily been a fatal car crash.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jairus\u2019 \u201clittle girl\u201d was his \u201cBut Jesus\u201d moment. What is your \u201clittle girl\u201d today? What is your first line of defense when those riveting times come? My first line of defense is Jesus\u2019 words \u201cDo not be afraid. Only believe.\u201d It’s not over until He says, “It’s over!”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In February 2021, I moved to Austin. My son tried to persuade me to take a fourth-floor apartment because the wildlife habitat next door had a beautiful view. That view didn\u2019t matter to me. I didn\u2019t want to wait for an elevator, and I wanted an apartment easily accessible to my car. I\u2019m glad I…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":19766,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1210,12592,1769,4242,29295,29294,1392,12585,6083,7757,1521,40,4391,12589,12587,26656,21244],"class_list":["post-19765","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-blog","tag-but-jesus","tag-christian","tag-do-not-be-afraid","tag-dont-speak","tag-emergency-procedures","tag-facebook","tag-first-line-of-defense","tag-give-up","tag-hopeless","tag-hospital","tag-inspiration","tag-jairus","tag-mark-535-36","tag-only-believe","tag-synagogue-leader","tag-texas-childrens-hospital"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19765","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=19765"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19765\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19767,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19765\/revisions\/19767"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/19766"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=19765"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=19765"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=19765"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}