What is the #1 Destroyer of Peace?

What do you fear?

Fear shakes our world and compromises our peace.

A very common fear is the fear of the unknown.

This fear will destroy your peace faster than any other fear.

A few years ago, I had a house fire. We lost nearly everything. Fortunately, myself and my two tiny daughters made it out safely.

Immediately my mind wondered to "What will we do now?'

This is normal. And I had no idea what the answer would be.

When you do not know what happens next the worst case scenarios seem to play like a movie marathon through your mind.

One after the other coming to terrify you with the options that you have less and less control over.

How will you cope?
What will you tell people?
How will you get through this?
Where will you go?
What will happen next?

You don't know.

The reel playing through your mind holds you in that place of fear because... because you do not know.

However, if we know that this is true we can use it differently.

I did not know what would happen next, and I was afraid.

I was afraid we would never be able to replace everything.
I was afraid my husband would be furious that I had allowed that to happen and not managed it better.
I was afraid we would not have anywhere to sleep that night. No clothes to change into.

The truth though, was very different.

It was amazing in fact.

I was so grateful for all the things that came next that to this day, that remains one of the most cherished moments of my life.

I learned so much in those next days about people, about fear, about life...

First I called my husband, I was expecting him to yell at me. We had just lost everything he'd spent years working to provide for us. And it really was my fault. An accident, but a preventable one.

Instead, he was only concerned if we were all okay. Of course he was... but in the fear, my mind had fixated on that worst case option. My guilt played its part here too. He was currently hundreds of miles away from us working and it was just me and two tiny babies.

Next, as the fire department was there working to put out the fire, the Salvation Army showed up and started to ask me questions. They brought up things I hadn't even thought of yet.

Do I have any money or cards? No they were all in the house. Questions like this brought on new mountains of fears for my mind to run with.

How will I feed the girls tonight?
I need bottles and diapers.
And more and more and more....

The Salvation Army worker was an angel. She calmed me down and said that she is here to help. She said they have all the systems in place to take care of everything we need to get through this and back on our feet.

She gave us a voucher for a hotel. Relief and tears flooded over me knowing we would be safe for a bit.

She gave me a gift card to buy food and necessities like diapers and clean clothes for the girls, as ours were covered in soot.

I couldn't hardly breathe I was crying so hard. It was as if a huge weight had just been lifted from me that was crushing me and I wasn't even aware it was there because the worry had just been consuming me.

She went on to give me an address of a place I can go after we find a place to live and get some replacement furniture, appliances and clothes completely free of cost so we wouldn't have to replace everything right away and our costs were already going to be considerable.

I was still worried about things. But not as many of the important things. In moments like this, true, basic importance becomes a focus.

So what did this teach me about using this knowledge of how fears work?

It showed me that 90 percent of my worst fears were ONLY because I didn't know.

This means that if I now take that knowledge into account and instead say, "I have no idea how but we will be alright." Then look for ways to help us be alright, it is a much better use of your time.

Not only that but that 90 percent of fear and the marathon of worst case scenarios will stop playing and get replaced with finding solutions.

With only 10 percent of the fear, solutions will be much easier to find.

The truth is, that even if that guardian angel from the Salvation Army had not come and delivered in my hand all of the wonderful gifts that saved me from my worry, the three of us would've been alright. It may have been much rougher, but we would have been alright.

Either way, things would've gotten better because we were going to be working toward that goal.

For me, all of that worry seemed useless when my basic needs were fairly instantly met. It showed me how much we can torture ourselves with worry about things that we do not know.

Peace means understanding this fact. Accepting that we do not know how it will all resolve and we do not need to know right now. Believing that we will find that out soon enough.

Peace means not allowing what you know, or don't know, to trap you in a small and fearful perspective.

Instead, accept that your knowledge is limited and peace will be far more plentiful.

You will also come to love these trying moments in life for all they are about to teach you and expand your knowledge.

Many times, help comes when you need it, and from unexpected places. Everyone wants to feel helpful and valuable. So in these moments it is your opportunity to allow someone else to be valued and accept their help.

Do not allow your peace to be shattered by the fear of the unknown. The unknown is a magical place full of help, kindness, and valuable lessons.

You simply have to be vulnerable to say, "I don't know, and that's okay right now."

Too much trust in what we think we know to be true creates a safe place for fear to grow and it limits our potential to grow past where we are to move on to better.