No guilt in life, no fear in death

Maybe it's because we are about to go public with the baby news, maybe it is because I've been having better days with my morning sickness (or at least had, until today...,) but my fears lately have been coming full force. I almost don't want to talk about the baby for fear that something is wrong. Luckily, I know and have hope that fear is not from God.
Hymns have always been powerful to me. Maybe that's why they are still around. (I just can't seem to envision "Go Go Go, or "Big Big House" sung in the aisles of church in hundreds of years, but the hymns live on.)
So I was listening to "In Christ Alone" and the words reminded me of the hope and promises I have been given.

In Christ alone my hope is found;
He is my light, my strength, my song;
This cornerstone, this solid ground,
Firm through the fiercest drought and storm.
What heights of love, what depths of peace,
When fears are stilled, when strivings cease!
My comforter, my all in all—
Here in the love of Christ I stand.

In Christ alone, Who took on flesh,
Fullness of God in helpless babe!
This gift of love and righteousness,
Scorned by the ones He came to save.
Till on that cross as Jesus died,
The wrath of God was satisfied;
For ev'ry sin on Him was laid—
Here in the death of Christ I live.

There in the ground His body lay,
Light of the world by darkness slain;
Then bursting forth in glorious day,
Up from the grave He rose again!
And as He stands in victory,
Sin's curse has lost its grip on me;
For I am His and He is mine—
Bought with the precious blood of Christ.

No guilt in life, no fear in death—
This is the pow'r of Christ in me;
From life's first cry to final breath,
Jesus commands my destiny.
No pow'r of hell, no scheme of man,
Can ever pluck me from His hand;
Till He returns or calls me home—
Here in the pow'r of Christ I'll stand.

So I know I highlighted most of the song, but these are the lines that moved me the most, recently. What other philosophies or religions promise even a speck of what we have in Christ? none. It is a life of freedom, and freedom we don't deserve. Most religions promise a gift, salvation, peace, etc AFTER you earn something, become something, or get somewhere. The beauty of our Lord is that we need to receive that ultimate gift BEFORE sanctification can begin. So, we honestly have to come as we are, and what we are is unworthy.
What is so awesome is that when we do live in Christ and fully realize our bankruptcy in God, we don't live in self-pity about how horrible we are as humans, but revel in the glory of His love anyway. It's a faith with reality. Our sin IS reality, but so is our salvation.
Needless to say, I get caught up in daily fears. So much so, that it has become a joke at work. Jaci needs SOMETHING to worry about. But the thing is, those fears are useless, and they are satan's way of distracting me from the Ultimate Story, and that is the story of Christ's victory over evil. That offers more hope than I can fathom, and peace that my child is coming into a world where the victory is already won.
One day, as a new Christian, I was struggling (as I have for years) with anxiety. I did not know scripture, as I was a baby in Christ, but God spoke to me and just said Psalm 46:10 - that's it. No explanation, no other soothing words. What does that scripture say? "Be still, and know that I am God." What more could be said than that? He is the perfect peace.