Facing Fear with Faith and Gratitude

When we say,

“I will never do _“,

what we really mean is that it’s my deepest, biggest, greatest fear.

And when we allow ourselves to face our fears, when we give ourselves permission to confront our fears—when we are bold and courageous enough to do so—what will inevitably happen, what always happens, is that we meet God there. The inverse of fear is love, or, as others have said, the inverse of fear is faith.

And so when we face our fears, when we do the very things that we once said we could not do or wouldn’t do, or even more extremely would never do, we’re denying ourselves something! But when we embrace them, and we are bold and courageous enough to face our fears, we meet God in those spaces.

Have you ever wondered why it is?

The very thing that they said they would never do is actually the best thing that could happen to them. Have you ever wondered why it is that the things you said you would never do are the best things that have happened to you? The most surprising things that have happened to you!

Whatever allows you to overcome, whatever challenges you and pushes you, gently, deeply within you, allows you to be the person that you wanted to be, to do the thing that you want to do, no matter how small or simple or seemingly foolish. What I do know, and can promise you, is that when you do, you will succeed—perhaps not the first time, but you will! Perhaps not the second time, but you will!

And if the thing that you wanted to do you give up on because it’s “hard,” I can assure you that’s not the thing that you actually wanted to do! When you are relentless, when you are desperate, when you are hungry, when you are thirsty, you will do whatever is required to get the outcome that you want, that you desire.

So do not give up. “Be bold and courageous” and relentless in your pursuit. And if you find along the way that what you are pursuing no longer sets your soul on fire, then allow yourself to channel something different. To pivot, to do something different. Nothing is ever wasted. Everything always comes together for your good.

And so just when you think that the thing that you feared the most, the thing that you would never do—

when you find that it is actually worth doing, when you find that you will overcome hell water or higher water, it will actually be worth it.

I have worked with people in active addiction, fighting and clawing and surrendering and praying and breathing and hoping desperately to come out of it to the other side, and I can tell you this: there’s nothing that an addict would not do to use, to find money. They will cheat, borrow, or steal.

So when it comes to you and what you want to do, what you are striving for: endure! ENDURE!

Why then will you not pursue?

Understand that the things you said you would “never” do?! It’s not that you can’t do them. They’re the very things that you will all so often end up doing because even if you didn’t know that you feared it? You did.

But even if you didn’t know that you would overcome it, you will.

We’re here, that’s why. Right here. And we’re in this together.

Don’t let fear continue to consume you. Consume your fear.

Prayer for Facing Fears with Boldness and Faith

God, thank You that You call us to be bold and courageous. Thank You that You made us good as we are. Thank You that our fears reveal our truest selves to us, and that facing our fears is a doorway to meet you. Thank You that we can face our fears, do it scared, and live to tell the tales! Thank You that Your will be done, in Your time, and not our own. Thank You for all we have, are, and do. Thank You for all we have not, are not, and do not do. Make us more bold and more courageous to face our fears each day so we can meet You and see Your face each and every time we do. And so it is. It is already done. Amen!