He is holding your hand now, and will not let go: "For I, the Lord your God, will hold your right hand, saying to you, 'Fear not, I will help you."'

"Fear not, for I am with you; Be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, yes, I will help you. I will uphold you with My righteous right hand."

"I, the Lord, have called you in righteousness, and will hold Your hand."

"Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by your name; you are Mine, When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned, nor shall the flame scorch you."

"For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior... Since you were precious in My sight, you have been honored, and I have loved you;"

"Fear not, for I am with you:" It's hard to be strong during these long trials, isn’t it? It's hard to keep pushing your mind to think on the Lord and concentrate on His goodness. Humanity makes it easy to lose focus. Don't kick yourself for becoming discouraged or for momentarily losing hope. Don't kick yourself for the tears or sighs. There is a battle, and it's for your mind.

Lean hard into Jesus' chest and let yourself cry in His arms. Tears don't mean that you have lost your faith. Instead it means that you are human, and you carry your faith in a human body that gets tired, and struggles with the unbelievable heat of the flame.

"Be strong and of good courage..." is repeated again and again in the Bible. God knew that we would be weak without Him, but that we would find the strength we need in Him. Yet, He knew that we needed to be reminded again and again to be strong.

Deuteronomy 31: 8 "And the Lord, He is the One who goes before you, He will be with you, He will not leave you nor forsake you; do not fear nor be dismayed." 'Fear' in that verse means terrified, and 'dismayed' means discouraged. Sometimes it’s easy to become discouraged. We are tired not only in body, but also in spirit and our emotions are wrung out until we feel hollow. God knew that would happen, because He made us. So, He kept repeating it-don't be afraid, don't be discouraged.

We don't get our courage from looking at the circumstances, instead we get our courage from concentrating on what we know about God: He always was and always will be. He is all-powerful and there is nothing too hard for Him. He is all-knowing and knew us before we were ever formed in our mothers' womb. And in all of that, He loves us.

The only thing you have to do right now is focus on the Lord. You don't have to come up with some important life-lesson or a devotional you can share next week. Whatever God wants you to learn He will show you clearly in the perfect time. In the meantime, you are only required to be still, and know that He is God.