Removing it takes power and a gentle
touch -- otherwise other stuff might
come off with it.
Jacob Have I Loved, Katherine Paterson
The things we think are so real and permanent aren't. The things we can't see --- that is where the foreverly-permanent stuff resides:
"Now faith is assurance of things hoped for, a conviction of things not seen." Hebrews 11:1
I'm reading a book called Angel Eyes by Shannon Dittemore. It's a YA (Young Adult) book. It has a bit of romance in it, but mainly it is a story of redemption, belief and above all the reality of the spiritual realm. I am not sure if everything is specifically biblical but the things that are are not specifically found in the Bible aren't anti-biblical. They could happen. Dittemore is using her imagination -- a gift we are called to exercise to fill our life with joy and peace and adventure.
I want to share a short passage from page 234:
"Around us, whimpers prickle like static electricity. Now that we're closer, I notice that the black substance coating the floor seems to be oozing from the children -- from their very own skin.
'What is it, Jake?'
'What is what?' he murmurs, pulling me along.
'The black tar. It's stuck to everything.' I want to scrub the hateful mud from each of their faces.
'Fear,' Jake answers. 'Now you know why it's so hard to shake.'
Seeing it like this is crushing. How do you eliminate something that multiplies? Something so prolific?
'It's everywhere.'
'Yes,' Jake says softly. 'Fear does that.'"
That is a word picture.
Perfect love drives out fear.