There is a strange power when you speak aloud what your mind has been quietly ruminating on. Vocalization brings crystallization — a sharpening and clarifying that happens when hidden fears and anxieties are voiced. This is why group therapy can be so powerful: it’s like holding up a newly unearthed stone to examine with others whether it’s a gem or fool’s gold.

One of the clearest lessons I’ve learned on this came the Saturday night before Waypoint’s first public worship service. I found one of my sons sitting on the front steps, quietly crying. When I sat beside him and asked what was wrong, he whispered, “Dad, I’m scared no one is going to like your sermon tomorrow.”

Gut punch.

Without knowing it, he had just spoken out loud the very fear I had been stuffing deep inside. My own anxiety was suddenly exposed through him. And then — in God’s strange grace — I had to parent him. The words I used to comfort his young heart were the very words God used in that moment to comfort mine.

Since that time, I’ve practiced the discipline of listing or speaking my worries aloud. Anxiety, after all, is often worry without an object. Once you name it, you can assess it and address it: is this a real threat or an imposter?

Here’s the funny thing: on trail runs over the years, I’ve heard countless noises off in the woods that convinced me a bear was about to attack. My heart would race, my body would tense — and then a tiny squirrel would dart across the trail. But here’s the kicker: on the three occasions I actually encountered a bear on the trail — and once, a far more intimidating mother boar — it was never as terrifying as all the imagined dangers in my head. My body assessed the real threat, took appropriate action, and clearly I made it back safely because I am able to tell the story today.

Many of the things we fear are nothing but squirrels in the brush. But even when the bears do show up (because they will), God has prepared us for those moments. We may not know what the future holds, but we know that He will be with us.

“Though the earth give way, and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, we will not fear.” — Psalm 46:2