As I scroll through my blog titles, I continue to see one recurring theme: faith. As a Christian author and minister, I feel like I must drive home the importance of faith. I need to make sure that you all know that faith is what God requires of us; faith can move mountains; and that faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. I have to tell you that without faith it is impossible to please God and that He is a Rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. I would be ineffective if I didn’t let you know that Hebrews chapter 11 is the faith chapter, beautifully recapping all of the examples of faith in action throughout the Bible. You really must see the faith of Moses, Joseph, Enoch, Abel, Sarah, Abraham, Noah, and so many others as you continue to walk on your Christian journey. I have to share that information as much as possible because it is vital to… well, our faith… and our entire belief system.

Faith is so important and I talk about it so often… so why do I struggle with it so much?

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*Disclaimer- this Monday Message is for me. While I pray that God speaks to your heart as you read the words with your heart’s eyes, this is a message that I needed to hear, personally. My Abba knows His daughter and He knew that the best way to remind me of the importance of faith was to send it via a message that I had to type for the world. So here I am, typing for you to read… and for me to listen.*

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In recent years I have seen the simple word of FEAR transformed into two acronyms: False Evidence Appearing Real and Face Everything And Rise. If I were being honest with you and myself, I would say that whenever I see that post scroll through my FB or IG timeline I boldly declare, “Oh, I don’t have fear, I have Jesus so I’ve got FAITH!” You couldn’t tell me I didn’t have faith.

In the words of the famous children’s song:
I am a C
I am a C-H
I am a C-H-R-I-S-T-I-A-N
and I have C-H-R-I-S-T
in my H-E-A-R-T
and I will L-I-V-E E-T-E-R-N-A-L-L-Y

Yes, I have Christ in my heart so there is no room for fear! Nope, not at all!

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After really having a conversation with God, I realized that there was fear residing within me. ..

I fear the actuality of completely trusting God…
I fear the unknowns that exist to my human mind…
I fear the perceived limitations that will come with total submission to God…
I fear not fitting in with the world and its beliefs…
I have a fear of faith.

Yes, I want the blessings and rewards of those who have unshakable faith, but I fear what unshakable faith would look like in my life. If I had to associate my fear to a reason, I would say that my fear exists because I spent so many years away from God’s will that I am overly terrified that I will accidentally veer from His path now.

Picture a student who has constantly performed poorly in a class. When a topic finally comes up that she understands, she may be overly anxious about her performance and begin to doubt herself. She may even say things like, “well, I thought I knew the other information but I failed; what if I don’t know this information?” A part of her believes that she knows what she knows, but a larger part fears that she is incorrect in her thinking and will only fail more.

Well, that’s me. I have performed so poorly in the past on this test called Life that I am now terrified that I may misunderstand what God is saying to me and then go off on the greatest of tangents.

I fear that I don’t know what I think I know.
I fear that I may fail now like I failed in the past.

I really do want that unshakable faith that Paul talked about in Hebrews… I just need to end this damaging relationship with fear.

Imagine looking through the lens of camera that is completely out of focus. The image that you see (if any) will be distorted and, until you focus the lens, what you see will be distorted but it will also be what you will believe is reality. Beloved, that is the same thing with fear. Fear really is false evidence appearing real. The enemy has to completely distort our view of God and His vision for our lives in order to distract us from what’s ahead.

As I have often said, this ministry of God Happened To M.E. is also my survival kit on my own healing journey. And even as I type the words to this post, God is refocusing the lenses of my heart so that I can see Him more clearly.

No distortion.
No blurriness.
Only a clear sight of Him and His works.

No, I’m not perfect and, yes, I will make [many] mistakes, but I am continuing to trust that God is solely guiding every aspect of my life. I am learning to Face Everything And Rise, knowing that faith in God is not restrictive or fearful- it is liberating and fulfilling.

Be blessed.