My greatest bugbear is fear. It's always there at my shoulder, poking me and prodding me. Put me in a situation and first I'll line it up against what worries me about it. Whether it's about the kids doing something away from home, or riding in the car with someone I don't trust, I fret.

Even now my stomach churns while I rehash a recent episode. With the wind we had last Friday, lots of folks ended up with trees on top of their houses. In our neighborhood alone, I could count 3 of them within a block of our house. And in driving around town, it's hard to pass down a street without seeing some sort of damage from last week's weather. Scares me.

But what really gets to me is thinking about the old, old Oak tree in our backyard. It's got three main trunks past the middle one, and ends up holding water in the center of it. Ants get in there and there's a problem. You can see where this is leading. And honestly, my insides are worked up thinking about it.

My husband is concerned about my issue with fear. He quotes Scripture to me, hoping to ease my mind, telling me that the Lord is taking care of us. I know all of that, but still, I easily go to being overly concerned about what I can't fix.

Thankfully I've been eased with the Bible study we've been getting into with the book of Ruth. She lost her husband and sons, but still, God was in the thick of her life.