Whenever I allow worries and fears to overwhelm me, I start to crawl back into a place of safety where I can avoid challenges.

Every time I do this, I move closer to a life of safety and comfort and away from challenges. The problem with this lifestyle is that I become less inclined to face up to the challenges that will come my way.

No matter how much we try to hide, challenges will follow us.  The easy way out is to avoid facing up to challenges.

Part of the healing process involves being able to face up to the challenges ahead of us instead of running away.

Get out of your comfort zone.

 “Come,” he said.

Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord, save me!”

Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. “You of little faith,” he said, “why did you doubt?” – Matthew 14:29-31

A comfortable place can become a dangerous place if we allow ourselves to remain there. It can be a place of rest and healing, but if we stay there without venturing out, it will slowly destroy us.

We’re made to live for adventures and relationships. When we avoid living life, we will die a slow death within us.

We’re called to take risks, to get out of the boat that we’re in, and to walk on water.

Prayer –

“I want to live a life of faith by taking risks and not be limited by fear. I surrender the spirit of fear that has been a stronghold in my life, and I ask for a heart filled with courage.

Lead me to take the right kind of risks so that I can live the life that You intended for me.”

Taking risks is not about doing crazy stunts or gambling, but it’s about taking the right kind of risks to live out our purpose and calling.

The boat that I’m in can be anything that causes me to retreat to safety and not take risks.

I do have limited time and energy, but taking risks is something I can learn and grow into. I usually start with something small, like going to an event that I normally won’t go to.  From there, I’ll take on bigger risks and watch what God does as I follow His guidance.

You can grow your risk muscles by slowly taking on more risks and doing it consistently to get out of your comfort zone. The more risk muscles you grow, the more you’ll be able to handle.

How exactly does this work when it comes to dealing with anxiety? Start small by facing up to the things that make you anxious.

Sometimes I get anxious when driving in heavy traffic. It’ll get worse when I stop at an intersection, making me feel like I’m trapped and cannot leave. My tendency is to avoid heavy traffic and stay further away from busy intersections, but that’s not always practical unless I give up driving altogether.

One way I’ve dealt with this is to actually pull up closer to the intersection whenever I have a chance. Each time I do that, I know I’ve overcome my driving anxiety and have something to build on.

The more I do this, the more I will gain confidence in managing other aspects of anxiety.

You can do it through God’s power

Start by stepping away from your comfort zone and partnering with God to take on risks. You don’t have to do anything crazy or out of the ordinary. Just do something simple.

You can do more than you think whenever depend on God’s power.

What exactly does that mean, and how do we know we’re not depending on ourselves?

• It’s a posture of surrender in our hearts. One practical way to gauge our posture is to see where most of our time, energy, and money is going. That will tell us if we’re living a life surrendered to God or if we’re living for ourselves.
• We can sense it in our hearts – we know if we’re doing something for God. Yes, the heart can be deceitful, but over time and after many seasons of growth, we’ll know why we do what we do.  This is something that comes with maturity and spiritual growth.
• Our lives filled with miracles. By miracles, I don’t mean strange or weird. It’s the normal and practical things in life, such as a person or event happening in our life that couldn’t have happened without God.  When we depend on God, He will constantly open these doors for us.

Prayer – “I wait upon You, and I depend on Your power by surrendering this day before You. I cannot do anything without Your power and I can do all things through Your power. If this the path You want for me, keep leading and guiding me through the ups and downs.  Open doors and close doors as You see fit. Amen.”

If you want to live a powerful life, you need to depend on God’s power and not on your own.  It’s something that will take time to figure out but you can start right away by surrendering your heart, waiting and moving only as He leads.

I’ve been in many situations where the waiting seems to take forever.  During those moments, I spend time doing my part.  That’s because God created trees but He created us with the ability to turn a tree into a table.  He won’t change the tree into a table.  It’s up to us to figure out that part.

So, when it comes to doing our part, we can acknowledge that He has made us with the capacity to do these things.  We use what He has given us – knowledge, ability, skills and gifts – to do our part.  We still do it by depending on Him because each moment we have comes from Him and each step we’re able to take is a special gift of His.

Do you not know?

    Have you not heard?

The Lord is the everlasting God,

    the Creator of the ends of the earth.

He will not grow tired or weary,

    and his understanding no one can fathom.

He gives strength to the weary

    and increases the power of the weak.

Even youths grow tired and weary,

    and young men stumble and fall;

but those who hope in the Lord

    will renew their strength.

They will soar on wings like eagles;

    they will run and not grow weary,

    they will walk and not be faint. – Isaiah 40:28-31

• Set aside time each day to surrender before God and depend on Him. During this time, don’t ask for anything. Just sit or walk in silence for a while until You sense His presence. It’s okay to struggle throughout the process.
• Learn to wait on Him and His timing. His timing is perfect. It’s not just about being patient; it’s also about being bold when it’s time to step ahead in faith. You learn to do this by practice. The more you practice waiting on His time and commit to only doing things in His time, the better you become at sensing His timing for your life.
• Learn to be guided by His hand. You will know God’s guidance when you walk closely with Him. When you commit to spending your time, energy, and money to seek after Him each day – you will get to know His guiding hand.

Seeking after God is not about doing more ministry or going to church. Sometimes it’s the exact opposite.

It’s about living the kind of life where your main focus is seeking God first and everything else second. That’s when He will open doors for you and change your life in ways that you can never do on your own.

Prayer –

“I release the things that have distracted me from knowing You. I release a life of busyness and will instead spend more time seeking after You only.

I want You more than the work I do for You.”

When we pray, we also need to practice what we just prayed over. That means we may have to say no to a lot of good things that are actually a hindrance to our relationship with God.

I’ve to say no to a busy ministry life just to slow down and have time to focus on God.

Get good advice

Get good advice and guidance along the way. Be a listener and be teachable. No matter how far ahead we’ve journeyed, there’s always something we can learn and improve on. It’s also very possible to have blind spots our entire lives and not know them.

Not every piece of advice will be good but learn to take what’s best and filter out the ones that are not useful. It’s more about having a posture that’s teachable. Even when we disagree, we can still listen and thank the person.

With time and practice, we develop a sensitivity to know what advice is most applicable to our situation.