Intentional Hope

“May your choices reflect your hopes, not your fears.”

-Nelson Mandela

Have ever experienced a moment or time in your life where you felt afraid? What did you do? And how did you overcome your fear? Fear is often a natural response to the uncertainty of an experience, moment or season and it’s sometimes easy to give in to. It makes you feel trapped, powerless and limited and has the power to change the course of your life if you let it. You will face hard times, seasons and moments when you feel afraid but your response to the fear you feel determines the outcome you will experience. 

Think about a time when you were afraid to step out and do something, and you ended up missing a good opportunity. Fear can really cost you so much, your peace, faith, future, opportunities, relationships, etc. What would happened if instead of partnering with fear in moments of uncertainty, we instead allowed our faith to lead us? Faith is complete trust or confidence in someone or something. The Bible says in Hebrews 11:1 “Faith shows the reality of what we hope for; it is the evidence of things we cannot see.” 

I remember going on a trip to Mexico with some friends and visiting this nice beach. As we explored this beach we found this cliff that many people were jumping off of into the ocean. It looked like a lot of fun, so my friends decided to give it a try and they really enjoyed it. I wanted to give it a try but deep down I was scared out of my mind. I knew I could swim but all I could think about was, “What if I drown?” or “What if something happens to me?” The fear I felt cause me to turn down a great opportunity for adventure. I look back on that time and I wish I would have just jumped because it would have helped me to face and overcome my fear. Sometimes when you face fear you just have to step out, believe and take action. What if you experience the time of your life? What if the step of faith you take ends up opening doors to the greatest opportunity of your life?

How often do we not step out on things that have been in our hearts and pass up so many great opportunities because we are afraid of what could go wrong? What if instead of focusing on what could go wrong, we got excited about what could go right?

In some of the hardest seasons of my life faith has been something that has pushed me to believe for greater things. My faith in Christ but also may faith and expectation that the future will be better. Sometimes you just have to refuse to believe that your story will end in a way that will leave you broken and that there is so much more to life than what you have experienced. When your hope and faith is in Jesus there is always an upside and greater things that are being produced through the difficulties that you experience.

This whole year and season has been testing and trying for me, but God has been faithful through it all. I’ve learned so much this year and grown so much in ways I’d would have never imagined. In my last blog post I talked about my daughters recent diagnosis of Atypical Neuroaxonal Dystrophy and how it changed so much for me, and what a difficult thing this has been to process. But despite all that has happened I feel peace and my faith stronger than ever.

Despite the fear I may feel I choose to partner with my faith. Instead of focusing on the negatives of what could happen, I’m focusing on the positive and working, praying and believing everyday that the future will be bright. I’ve been asking myself, “What if she gets healed and her life becomes a testimony to someone who is thinking of giving up? What if she one day gets up and decides to fully walk and talk? What if She really does defy the odds and families that have lost hope are inspired? What if a cure is discover? What if the miracle that she experiences causes other people to believe that Jesus really does do miracles?

There is something about believing that the future can be better and standing in faith that’s so empowering. It creates a different type of energy, hope and expectation for the future. It gives you the courage to keep going and the strength you need to keep working and believing that things could be better everyday. Faith is something that I’ve been clinging to because I know how faithful God has been in the past, and I know that He is faithful to come though even in the present.

I hope my story encourages you today! No matter what you are face with, have hope for what could be. God will never put you through what He has not already given you the grace to walk through. Let your hardships and disappointments draw you closer to God and not pull you away. Keep standing in faith because God is always faithful to keep Hid promises!

Thanks for reading! What is a fear that you’ve had to overcome? I would love to hear your testimony. Please leave a comment below.

”Forget all the reasons why it won’t work and believe the one reason why it will.”