He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. Colossians 1:17 NIV
A military neurosurgeon was deployed to a war zone. One day, his unit came under attack. As bombs fell around him, he realized there was nothing he could do to save himself.
Later, that doctor would face the same helplessness in a very different way when his son died. He knew what it felt like to reach the end of his own ability to fix, prevent or control what was happening. Looking back, he realized, “[I was] never supposed to be able to hold it all together.”[1]W. Lee Warren, Instagram Reel, accessed October 5, 2026,https://www.instagram.com/reel/Dd3yVs0M6jD/.
Maybe you’re there right now. The panic is real, the situation is real and it feels like you can’t keep it together. You may be trying to hold a family together, keep a job, manage a diagnosis or protect someone you love. Your mind searches for some way to make everything turn out right.
The good news is that none of us was ever meant to keep it all together. But there is Someone who does. The Bible book of Colossians says this about Jesus: “He is before all things, and in him all things hold together” (Colossians 1:17). This means the weight of holding your life, your future and the people you love together was never meant to rest on you. As the neurosurgeon put it, “Jesus is holding it all together, not your scared, anxious brain.”[2]Warren, Instagram Reel.
You can use that brain to make wise choices. But Scripture tells us to “Cast [our] cares on the Lord … he will sustain you; he will never let the righteous be shaken” (Psalm 55:22 NIV). When fear tells you everything depends on you, answer it with what is true. You are not the one holding all things together. Jesus is—even when you can’t see what comes next.
