Tips For When Fear is Holding You Back
Hello my Hope-full friend!
Have you ever had fear hold you back? Maybe it was fear of the future or overwhelming fear of not knowing enough or not knowing what to do. Perhaps it was fear of change or that you can’t do whatever it is you are facing because it is too big and too scary.
Guess what? I’ve been struggling with fear lately—so if you’ve ever had any of these thoughts, you are not alone.
Any time we do something new or extremely difficult it can be scary. I’ve felt overwhelmed a little lately--Like there is a mountain of to-dos and my eyes are paralyzed open not knowing where to even start.
So, I’ve found myself looking back in my journals to other times in my life when I faced big fears—learning from my own experience how in the world I navigated it before so I can apply the same technique again. And although the situations are different, I have found comfort in knowing God is with me in my crazy, scary journey and will help me once again.
Tips for When You’re Facing Fears
One of the biggest things I learned about facing fear was that my capacity to move through it depended on where I focused. If all I was looking and thinking about was my fear then I stayed paralyzed. But if I kept my focus on Christ and on my faith in Him to help me through my fear I was able to take baby steps of faith (like Peter walking on water) until I moved through the fear. Listen to a podcast episode where I discuss overcoming fear here: How I Overcame my Fear to Podcasting.
I also wrote a blog called, 7 Tips to Overcoming Fear--Lessons I Shared on the Rebuilding Podcast, which gives ideas like journaling, taking baby steps (small wins) and other strategies to help me move forward.
After a terrible accident that should have paralyzed him, my friend Alan Gulledge had to face some pretty big fear in order to move forward. He acknowledged that sometimes we fear something because pushing past it is painful (just like his recovery). You can read/hear more of his tips here: Alan Gulledge – Setting Goals, Facing Fears and Recovering with Faith.
I am also inspired by the story of Joshua in the Old Testament as the children of Israel faced some pretty big fears about going into the promised land. Joshua brought back a faith-filled report about a land flowing with milk and honey, but the other spies shared their biggest fears—and the people let fear win and wandered in the desert for the next 40 years because they let fear rule them.
I love what Joshua and Caleb told the people,“Let us go up at once. Let’s go do this and possess it for we are well able to overcome it.”(Numbers 13:30)
They then continued encouraging the people by saying in Numbers 14:7-9, “The land, which we passed through to search it, is an exceeding good land. If the Lord delight in us, then he will bring us into this land, and give it us; a land which floweth with milk and honey. Only rebel not ye against the Lord, neither fear ye the people of the land; for they are bread for us: their defence is departed from them, and the Lord is with us: fear them not.”
Basically they were saying, let’s go, don’t fear. God is for us and will be with us.
I love their courage and faith! It inspires me and reminds me to also be courageous and move forward—taking baby steps toward my big goal which seems so insurmountable.
Confession: There is a part of me that would rather wallow in the desert for a while and hide, but will I really be content without progress? Probably not. I would get bored because I love learning and growing and becoming better.
So, I will say like Joshua, “Give me this mountain!” (Joshua 14:12) and boldly move forward one small step at a time.
You can move forward through your fear too with faith—because with God nothing is impossible.
Hope on!
Tamara