Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. –Hebrews 11:1
While I get ready in the morning, I listen to something motivational. I had on Les Brown today, and he was talking about how we get paralyzed and find reasons not to take a chance on our dreams and ideas. We start to feel intimidated and inferior.
He talked about how we’ve all been in situations where we were overwhelmed with fear and didn’t know how we were going to survive, yet we’re still here. We need to look at what we came through and use that as a testament of how powerful we are. To me, that’s also a testament of how powerful God is. He’s proved that He can get us through overwhelming situations, yet we still question His ability to handle new ones.
Les Brown told about how making mistakes or not feeling good enough is a huge fear for people. He said that the person who has never made a mistake hasn’t done anything. You’ll see that others might ridicule or make fun of you. You’re going to feel awkward, stupid, and dumb sometimes, but that’s ok. What’s important is that you get out there.
The better we become, the more confident we feel, and the more confident we feel, the better we want to become. We realize we have no ceiling. We can get better and go further. As long as we’re breathing, we got some more work to do and something else for us to achieve. Going through life quietly without taking any chances is not living.
I’ve been challenged in my thinking lately. First, I was told to write down all my successes so that when I have goals, I know that I’m capable of succeeding. I was stumped. Have I had successes? That was the devil talking because when I started writing, I kept on writing! Try it, you gain confidence.
Now I was being challenged again because Les Brown was telling us how we’ve gotten through overwhelming situations in the past, so we can handle new ones. Hmm…I started wondering if just maybe I haven’t been living. Have I faced overwhelming fear and failure?
I remembered writing down my successes, so I figured I’d try it with fear and failure. Well, let me tell you, that list started flowing. Now I know that I’m living…whew! I was worried just a little. I also realized that I came through some big decisions that required a leap of faith. I was faced with overwhelming fear, and guess what: I survived! I not only survived, I made a difference in someone’s life.
There are times when God pushes us to see what can be, not just what is. We can’t be afraid to take that leap of faith because if we don’t, we’ll never see the awesome things He has in store for us. If we fall, He’ll catch us!
If I hadn’t taken leaps of faith, my life would be drastically different. I would’ve missed out on so much that God had in store for me. It would’ve completely changed my hubby and boys’ lives also. Just one example is taking them out of public school and starting to homeschool. Talk about a leap of faith! There’ve been failures along the way, but we learn and grow from them. I didn’t even think about them as failures at first because we keep on persevering!
I urge you not to let your fear override your faith. If you take a leap of faith, you might be surprised to find yourself flying instead of falling.
“Never be afraid to try something new. Remember, amateurs built the ark; professionals built the Titanic.” -Anonymous
“If we never had the courage to take a leap of faith, we’d be cheating God out of a chance to mount us up with wings like eagles and watch us soar.” – Jen Stephens
