For fear

This plan is for someone who has to take a step with shaking legs: a hard conversation, a move, an awaited diagnosis. The six passages do not deny fear. They say what stands on the other side of it.

Three of them are orders of courage given to people about to take on a mission. In Deuteronomy 31:6, Moses speaks to the people on the eve of his death, unable to cross the Jordan with them. In Joshua 1:9, the successor receives the same promise, «I will be with you», and the command to be strong is repeated in 1:6 and 1:7. Isaiah 41:10 belongs to the section of chapters 40 to 48, addressed to an exiled people who felt forgotten. The other texts come from closer to home. Psalm 23:4 puts the «valley of the shadow of death» in the middle of the road, without asking to skip the valley. Psalm 27:1 is David's and asks a rhetorical question: if the Lord is my light, whom shall I fear? In 2 Timothy 1:7, Paul writes to a young leader who seemed intimidated and reminds him that God gave power, love and self-control.

Read one passage a day and notice where the promise of presence is: almost all of them carry a «with me», «with you» or «goes with». The plan lasts six days and can be redone before any hard decision.