Fear and grace

Mrs. Parunak has a great post about a time that one of her worst fears played out: she thought she might die and never see her children again. She explains that she was actually filled with peace in the moment, and points out:

[W]hen we are simply imagining chilling scenarios, we are facing the horrible emotions without any of God’s sustaining grace. Every time we imagine something, we put ourselves through agony of a kind we will never have to go through in real life. Because when awful things are actually happening, God walks with us through them and gives us His grace and strength. The peace of God’s presence through a trial is something I can never conjure up in my imagination, and something that only comes with real trials, not the pretend ones I make up while driving. Now I know the difference.

Read the rest here.