Choosing Faith Over Fear

Thank you for joining me on this journey. I am excited about the launch of my blog and the opportunity it presents to reach so many of you and hopefully, to build connections with you through my writing and sharing.  Mostly I want this to be a place where you return to read something that will inspire you, touch you or speak to you in some way.  If I can accomplish that, I will consider my blog a success.

As we contemplate what it means to live a Fearless and Faithful life, this quote from Nelson Mandela comes to mind:

               “May your choices reflect your hopes, not your fears.”

When I read that, I think of the choices I have made in my life and why I made them.  I also then think of the choices I didn’t make and why.  For me, and for most of us, one of, if not the biggest reason we choose not to do something, not to take that leap of faith, is fear.  Fear of rejection.  Fear of not knowing.  Fear of failing.  Fear of embarrassing ourselves. What will people think? (Can we all agree that is one excuse right there that we need to step away from!)

Fear holds us back in so many ways and in situations we sometimes aren’t even aware of, but if we take a step back and reflect on our choices and our decisions, we may see that the fear is something we really need to learn to let go of. If you are a Christian, then you know that the Bible makes 365 references to fear, specifically “Do not be afraid!”  That is every single day of the year the Lord is offering his reassurance!  Just think about that for a minute.  If you truly believe and you let yourself internalize this message, you will come to the understanding that there is no-one more powerful on your side than the One who created the universe!!!!!!  Isn’t that amazing?

The flip side of choosing to trust the process and move forward in faith though means letting go of control, and that’s where the rub is.  We want so much to control our lives, our schedules.  We have things to plan, places to go, goals to hit in the timeframe we want to hit them, etc. But at some point, something in life forces us to realize it’s really never been in our control and if we just let it go, trust the process, have some faith, we will live so much more freely and happily.  I will write about control in a future post because there’s a lot to unpack there, but for today, concentrate on this message:

You can either walk in fear or walk in faith.  It’s your choice, but if you choose fear over faith, you will never live your life freely the way it is intended to be lived.  I have a bracelet I bought myself a few months back with the saying “My faith is stronger than my fears.”  I can tell you when I wear it and look down at my wrist, it’s a gentle reminder to me to be stronger than my fears.

We are living in unprecedented times right now and there is so much uncertainty, so much to fear in the world.  There is the very scary threat of this pandemic we are living in and of course there is political and economic unrest.  People are literally fearing for their lives and fearing for their security.  The fear is so palpable it’s bringing out the worst in many of us, causing us to be short-tempered with one another and perpetually angry.  On edge.  Living in fear indeed is taking a toll on humanity.  There is no better time than right now to stop living like this and go out into the world with some kindness. So my challenge to you today is to take a look at your life as I have.  Identify your fears.  Identify the things your fears have held you back from, and then decide what are you going to do about it.  Move away from the negativity and even the negative people in your life if necessary.

What are you going to do today to start living you’re best Fearless and Faithful life?