The stress of the unknown weighted me anxious. I had an opportunity to pursue … a decision to make. A stirring deep within concocted a desire to explore. I didn’t know why, but I knew that I must.
I knew that good would come from the exploration. Earth-shattering change was not eminent. Altering my life was not required; but inspection, scrutiny and analysis of situation and self demanded action. Yet, I froze … suspended in a nebula of confusion and fear.
Questions that I did not want to answer hovered. Undesirable scenarios loomed. A visual of potential hurt feelings flashed in my mind’s eye. Threats of failure danced around me. Doubts circled and sang what-if?
I locked eyes with a Godly friend and whined.
“I need someone to make this decision for me. Tell me what to do and I’ll do it.”
“Explore it,” she decided … quickly. Too quickly for my liking.
“I was hoping for a different answer,” I sighed.
Then, she offered instruction. “Take fear out of the equation. Now, what do you want to do?”
I smiled. “I want to see what this is really about.”
She returned my smile with one of her own, “Then, that’s what you do.”
So I explored. And I learned. And I grew.
In its unhealthy form, fear is, at best, an obstacle … at worst, it is an agent of paralysis and atrophy. When removed from the equation, fear is left without power and the right choice rises to the surface.
“Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful; and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near.” Hebrews 10:23-25 NASB.
So friend … what decision(s) do you need to make? Is fear keeping you from moving forward? What would you do, if fear was removed from the equation?
By Angela, Womb Woven and Wonderfully Made
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Angela,
This is such a beautiful insight and I can tell it came from a very challenging road lived. I’m walking a similar road these days, taking fear out of the equation and choosing the courage to trust. It’s not a mandate that I do what I’m doing, but I’m discovering that it’s beautiful worship and draws me ever nearer to His heart in such a deep and profound way. Your words are life to me today.
Rich blessings as He leads you closer to His heart.
Amy, what a beautiful response. How beautiful to look at trusting God as a type of worship. I will need to ponder that.
thank you amy & angela, Lord continue to bless you!
Gods timing is so perfect! I found myself in that “place” of fearing something God deems good…only to let fear win. This post will be of great encouragement to me next time! Thank you!
Oh Sarah, I know that feeling well … the feeling of wanting to move forward and being too afraid to act. Next time, you’ll get it. 😉
oh my goodness, tears are falling here … we are facing a HUGE decision with our children and the fear has gotten the best of me lately. The Lord’s timing is amazing as this was exactly what I needed to read today. THANK YOU!!
Oh Kathy — I stopped and said a prayer for you and your family.
Oooooo, no fear means less worry – I love that idea! So hard to not allow faulty focuses take over our days. I can be the worry queen sometimes and a mismanager of valuable time.
It does mean less worry, I love that too. I often remind myself, “Take out the fear and do the right thing.” You are so right too about worrying being a time waster. Good perspective.
My word this year is discernment and I recently posted about what I have been learning. Your line from your friend, “Take fear out of the equation. Now, what do you want to do?” is so insightful. I plan to journal that one and keep it for guidance. Thank you for sharing your story.
Thank you, Jean. I love how you mention discernment. It is so important to be able to be still and listen to where and how God is leading.
This couldn’t have been more perfect! What a day for this to be posted. I am actually fearful of what will happen to me. I know I must make a move, but what move? I know God is calling me to be a writer, but I don’t know of what. And I am seriously considering quitting my part-time job and looking into writing my book. I am the only one working in the house (there are two of us, my older sister and I). It wouldn’t be the best move. I know everyone would attack me for it, and I’d feel a bit ashamed, honestly. But somehow, the answer of quitting keeps coming into my head… I honestly don’t know what to do. I feel it’s time I moved on…but to what?
These are the questions I keep asking myself. 🙂
Thank you so much for your precious comment. I apologize for taking so long to respond. It can be so hard to know what direction to take … I think that with any decision, truly praying, reading scripture, praying more and then earnestly listening makes a huge difference. Sometimes letting go of fear doesn’t mean we make a life-altering move … sometimes it just means letting go of anything that is standing between you and your relationship with Christ. And then there are times when it does mean truly making a big change. Wow … let me know what you decide. I will pray for you thins evening.
It must be in the air for I have been having these same thoughts lately. God’s way and leading is always best, but it does not come cheap. Blessings
Nope, Jesus isn’t cheap … but He is priceless. Thank you so much for sharing.
“What would you do, if fear was removed from the equation?”
I need to ask myself this question every day. I’m easily paralyzed by fear. But if there was no fear in the equation, making a decision would be based strictly on facts and on what God is asking me to do.
Thank you for taking the time to share your heart. So often there are principles of which I need to remind myself to follow daily … unhealthy fear/worry is one.
Seriously…every time I turn around this week I am reading something about this. I think God is telling me something. Yep. Fear has me paralyzed right now but I love that “what if it was out of the equation” Wow! so clear what to do. Thanks for sharing this today!!
I am glad these words blessed you. Thank you for sharing.
I am encouraged to do Godly math today and remove fear from some equations. For too long fear has kept me bound and living small. I have not been given the spirit of fear but of love and a sound mind. Today I will act accordingly. Be blessed in your obedience to the God who has given you such great talent
Thank you, Daphne! Blessing to you!
God’s perfect timing.
God’s Timing
Amen and Amen.
Thank you for sharing this. I love how God always has such perfect timing. My husband and I are in the midst of praying about some pretty big decisions for our family. I naturally do not do change very well and fear of the unknown tends to get the best of me. Reading this today really helped remind me that fear and anxiety just wants to get in the way and try to rob us of something greater that God has in store!! Thank you for this blessing and encouragement. What a gift.
Thank you so much for sharing. I will pray for you and your family this evening.
We all have fears of some sort or another. My fears right now are watching my kids move out and grow up and I just don’t like that. I don’t want to let go. I have to trust that God has them in His hands. You know?
Just the reply I needed to read. My son gets married next weekend, and I have so many fearful thoughts for him. I keep telling myself to let it go [God is handling it] and enjoy this season of my life. Letting go is hard and full of fear and what ifs…I’m with you. Prayers for all of our kids moving on with their lives. May they be COVERED in His grace and mercy and blessings.
I am so there with you, understanding paralyzed… atrophied… my prayers are also inthe place of exploration, faith and moving forward. God bless you!
Wow! I am going to have to remember this one! What an amazing and fresh way to look at those things that keep you bound with indecision! Love it! Thanks!
AAHHHH, so profoundly simple. I cannot imagine how differently I would have lived if fear were erased from the equation. But when it has been minimized or even better erased and squashed, there has been creativity, abundant living, adventure, and joy. That’s where I want to live, free of fear…. open to all He has for me.
Thanks for this post. You write this challenge so sweetly and tenderly. so grateful for the inspiration to erase fear, even for today.
I love this! My oldest child is graduating this year, and has a lot of decisions to make. I am going to give her these words of wisdom (and heed them myself!).
This is wonderful! I can feel hope bursting forth at just the thought of fear being dispelled. This is a great reminder.
Wow, so what I needed today. I’ve been debating on where to go in a situation and your encouraging words just gave me my answer! I will continue forward. 🙂
I loved this because it truly speaks to me. I’m a compulsive worrier as well as a fearful person. Right now, I’m terrified to go out and get a job. I don’t know why, fear of failure maybe? I had one job interview two months ago I thought I was going to have a heart attack over! I didn’t and I also didn’t get the job. Maybe my fear came out in the interview, I don’t know. But I’m praying that the right job will come along for me. One that God feels that I will do well at. Please pray that that job comes along and that I’ll be wholy ready for it 🙂
I’ve dragged my feet on so many good things because of fear. Fear brings the wrong kind of inactivity. I like your friend’s solution to explore the possibility in front of you instead of shying away from it. As for me, I recently began sharing my words more publicly after a long hiatus. There was lots of second-guessing, but I had to just keep writing through it all. Sometimes the only way to chase fear away is to run toward it. 🙂
Hhmmm….some food for thought. Tell me though–is there a distinguishable line between taking the fear out of the equation and doing something irresponsible?
Hi, “Just Me!”
Good question! There are definitely healthy fears. I love roller coasters, but I’ve also had spinal surgery so I am no longer able to ride them. If I went to a theme park and looked at huge coaster and thought “I want to do this, but I’m scared I’ll get hurt.” That would not be a good time for me to remove fear from the equation. 🙂 I think the same is true with some emotions as well.
In this case, I am talking about healthy, God-given desires that we sometimes ignore because of fear. In the case of this blog post, the situation was job related. However, there have been times when I felt led to ask a question or go the extra mile to show someone love, but then ignored it because I was afraid. In that case, I was ignoring the Holy Spirit. Does that make sense?
I think so…
My decision has been to stay/leave an almost dead end job. I’ve prayed about the situation, thought about it & decided to stay & bloom where God has planted me for now. Fortunately God has seen fit to show me another job that would fit my skills and attributes much better.
Take fear out of any equation and put prayer in its place. You will find the answer to any & all questions!
What amazingly wonderful advice!
Ah, the ole “What if?” monster. I know it all too well.
This is a great post.
Thank you for sharing your insight and experience.
Fear is something that I allowed to paralyze me for longer than I like to admit.
God really dealt with me and still is. Things are better, but fear has always been a bitter sweet indulgence.
I now have more healthy fear than unhealthy, but it changes.
There are several decisions that I need to make. Your post is quite timely for me.
Thank you, friend!
Blessings to you!
Beautifully written. I am walking out this same lesson. I am thankful God sends us encouragement through people like you. I pray the Lord blesses you abundantly.
I have been seriously debating a big life change, moving away and pursuing an education and opportunity like none other or staying at home. This helped me sooooo much! I’m on vacation and said I’d make a decision on my birthday and not look back. Well, I decided yesterday (my bday) but today I was doubting it! Seeing that this was posted on my birthday helped me so much! I’m ready to go where God is calling!
So very timely. Thank you for your words of encouragement today!
Thank you so much for this! This is exactly what I needed to ask myself, and the answer is a surprise for me, that’s for sure. Thank you, thank you!
This is beautiful. I’m often paralyzed by fear of offending someone. I’d never thought of the solution being so simple. Take fear out of the equation before making a decision. Thank you for sharing this!
Sharon
Thank You for sharing from your heart the godly insights you’ve been blessed with! I recently made a tough decision to give up my apartment in one part of the country to move in with Family nearly a thousand miles away from what I’d called home for 39+ years. I really bathed the decision in prayer, but the reality of living the decision I made now is giving me cause to question the saneness of that decision. Don’t get me wrong – I love my Family, but the ‘every-day-ness’ of now living in a household that includes 3 adults & 5 children is frankly overwhelming a lot of the time! I know GOD has me here to be that godly example I need to be & to continue fashioning me into the jewel that best glorifies HIM. You’ve encouraged me to keep on keeping on! Thanks, again & again!! From another sister in CHRIST…