What would you do if you knew fear weren’t a factor?
That’s the question that ran through my mind recently after I did an author visit to a local school.
It wasn’t until I was looking at pictures of the event that I realized just how far I’ve come in my career. I’ve known since I was 14 that I wanted to write books, but I didn’t sit down to actually write one until after I had my daughter in 2004—22 years later. After my first book was published, I would dream about going to schools and speaking to students. To many of you, talking to a crowd might not be that big of a deal. As someone who still has moments of being painfully shy and whose first experience speaking to a group didn’t go too well, the thought of trying again scared me when I did it ten years ago.
I’ve now spoken at about 100 schools, churches, libraries and organizations. When I looked at pictures from my various events the other day, I started to wonder how different my life would have been if I had let fear rule me and I hadn’t sat down to write or tried speaking in public again after my first failed attempt. I wouldn’t be the author I always dreamed of being nor would I be getting invited to speak to students if I let fear be a factor. At some point I had to push beyond the fear. Doing that took faith.
I once heard speaker, author and actress Priscilla Shirer say if she has two options and she realizes the only reason she isn’t picking one is because of fear, the one that fills her with fear is normally the way she needs to go. Why? Fear is from the devil. If you’re afraid of something, perhaps it’s because the devil is trying to keep you from the blessings God has for you.
If I had let fear rule me, I wouldn’t be the author and speaker I always dreamed I would be.
Just so we’re clear. The fear didn’t disappear by just taking one step. It was a matter of me taking tiny steps every single day. It meant I had to focus more on my faith than my fear. If I kept focusing on my fear, I would have missed being blessed and being a blessing.
Today, how can you make a conscious decision to focus more on your faith than your fear?
