How to Discover Your Destiny and Kick Fear to the Curb
Inside: Have you wondered how you will ever be able to live without fear and anxiety? God uses what we’ve gone through. Discover your destiny by trusting God and asking for His guidance!
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A few years ago, I was overcome with anxiety and fear every day.
I couldn’t drive anymore without white-knuckling the steering wheel. Being in a place full of people made me want to run for the hills.
I thought this would always be a part of me.
Chained to Fear and Anxiety
I gave up making goals and dreaming because when you can’t make it to 10 am without a panic attack, it feels like nothing good would ever happen again.
Dealing with anxiety and fear that comes with it can feel like you have a chain attached to your ankle.
Some days you might be able to get a little more confident, but BAM! that chain pulls you back.
Imagine a retractable dog leash. One day we have a good day and journey a few steps, but fear pulls the retract button and we’re back to where we were.
You start to believe life can’t be any different than what it is. #anxiety #fear #worry #doubt #unmaskingthemess Share on XYou feel stuck, frustrated and become hopeless.
When the heavy clouds of anxiety descend, you stop dreaming about your destiny because frankly, you can’t make it through even one day.
Believing Fear’s Lies
A few months ago, I made a discovery. I wasn’t planning for anything above what I’ve known for the last few years.
What I had fallen victim to was fear’s lies that I would always be this way.
Here’s what God whispered to my soul, “just because you’re anxious and fearful now doesn’t mean you will always be that way!”
Those thoughts that fill our heads based on fear and anxiety are exactly how the devil likes to sucker punch us. He knows if we can get stuck, we can be our own worse enemy.
And the truth is: it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. We don’t rise above our fear and anxiety when we don’t think life can be any different.
Kicking Fear to the Curb
We have a power verse right in the Bible to kick fear to the curb.
God uses everything in our life, even the valleys of fear and anxiety to build our character. #anxiety #fear #unmaskingthemess Share on X12 Fight the good fight for the true faith. Hold tightly to the eternal life to which God has called you, which you have declared so well before many witnesses.
For so long, I prayed that it wouldn’t be part of my story. What I’ve come to realize is going through both has been beneficial for me and my faith,.
I have been broken in order to discover my destiny!
Discover Your Destiny
Through fear and anxiety, God has softened my heart to women struggling. Through the pain and the valley, I’ve discovered my destiny.
Here’s the deal: when we hit a wall of fear, worry, doubt, and anxiety, we might beg God to take it away and shake our fist at Him and ask Him, “why?”
What I’ve learned is the question shouldn’t be why, but what can I learn about myself, my faith and my future because of it.
Jeremiah 29:11 is a promise we each can grasp tight to.
11 For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.
What we’ve journeyed through is what can help us get to the real purpose of our existence here.
Gideon’s Struggles to His Destiny
Gideon was fearful and hiding away from the threat of enemy attack. He withdrew, and when the angel of the Lord approached him, he allowed his fear to talk.
Gideon did ask why in Judges 6:13, “why has all this happened to us?”
The Lord didn’t answer his why but gave Gideon a reason for why this was happening.
God was sending Gideon for a purpose because of the struggles and pain he had endured.
Gideon didn’t become a confident, valiant warrior right away, but one conscious effort at a time overcame his fear. (read more about his offering, tearing down the Asherah poles, each was a conscious effort.)
Each day Gideon focused on God and who God told him who he was.
Steps With Intention
When we’ve felt stuck for a while, change can seem almost impossible.
Friend, I know this to be true!
Driving a few miles without panic was hard the first couple of times.
One mile became 2 miles, and before I knew it, I was driving without panic or white-knuckles.
One conscious effort each day is how we overcome fear, doubt, worry, and anxiety. #unmaskingthemess Share on XNew habits aren’t built in a day but over many days. It actually takes 63 days to build a new habit.
Success is a small intention each day.
Your Destiny Begins with Small Steps
To be an overcomer with fear and anxiety we need to:
- Break fearful thoughts
- By exposing these thoughts to truth
- Understand that confidence is built one intentional habit at a time
- We are victors already through Christ
- Jesus is with us each step of our journey
- Visual freedom and victory
- Become mindful of what our thoughts are focused on
Fear and anxiety might be reigning in your life right now, but that doesn’t mean they will always be in charge.
When we grasp hold of the promises of God and cling to Him, we can overcome the struggle.
God has chosen you for a specific purpose and destiny, your fear and anxiety are the character-building blocks to get there!
You can discover this destiny through your struggles by asking God to lead you to learn what you can from them.
God uses everything and He has a hope and a future awaiting you! Cling to Jeremiah 29:11!
Take a conscious first step to manifest your future!
God wants to use you because of what you have been through. You might think fear and anxiety are there to take you out but God has another plan for them!
18 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
for he has anointed me to bring Good News to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim that captives will be released,
that the blind will see,
that the oppressed will be set free,
Fear & Anxiety: Learning to Overcome with God’s Truth: A Love God Greatly Study Journal
It Will be Okay: Trusting God Through Fear and Change (Little Seed & Little Fox)Unshakable Hope: Building Our Lives on the Promises of GodGrace: More Than We Deserve, Greater Than We Imagine
“Fear and anxiety might be reigning in your life right now, but that doesn’t mean they will always be in charge.”
I love that concept. It’s very similar to how we are often advised to look at grief too. It’s an act of intentional remembering there is something beyond the immediate struggle, remembering that there will be other seasons in life too.
Thanks for heeding God’s call to use your experiences to serve others.
As a fellow fear-warrior, I understand how paralyzing and hopeless panic attacks can be. Thank you for these God-centered truths to empower us to persist one step at a time so that we can overcome!
Small, intentional steps will lead to a victorious outcome! And yes, God will use EVERYTHING for His glory and His purposes. Even the hard things will be redeemed for our good! Great practical tips here julie! Our story now, won’t be our story forever!
Fear and anxiety can tie you up in knots. Sharing your feelings and talking about it with a friend I find helps to reduce the angst. Appreciate the post.
Thanks for sharing this article. Anxiety is difficult to deal with on your own.
I love your teaching on how to battle anxiety, stress and fear! Battling with God’s Word has always been my greatest strategy. I appreciate how you share openly and strategically. Bless you!
Such a great post! I love the retractable dog leash example. We both struggle with the fear of driving! I agree that we face it one step at a time. Sharing all over!
Fear really is a liar. God has a plan, and when we can let go of fear, only then can He use us to implement that plan!
I read so many bloggers that talk about their fear and anxiety and it has me thinking…this must be one of the devils favorite snares. So many of God’s children struggle with this. But you know what I see? Christians pushing through that fear and anxiety because of a mighty God who loves them. I love the part where you say: “Here’s what God whispered to my soul, “just because you’re anxious and fearful now doesn’t mean you will always be that way!” A light went off in my head when I read this because I always have just pushed through my anxiety, never really thinking it someday might go away completely. Maybe God will relieve my anxiety and maybe he won’t until I’m in heaven. Either way, the thought that I won’t always have to muscle through it is comforting.
Crystal- thank you for sharing!
Your small steps are such a good reminder when we are filled with fear!
Ava- thank you!
Great post Sister, very important things that we all deal with in our lives. I have to remind myself of who I am and Because of Whom. Knowing that I/ we have the Holy Spirit within me/ us who helps me/us forget about the fear and anxiety that may try to rear its ugly head in our lives in different situations.
It seems to be a growing problem in our culture. These are wise words and sage advice for those who struggle with what you point out as the lies we believe about ourselves and the power anxiety has. Overcoming lies with truth is at the top of your list of what to do. “The truth will set you free!”
“God has chosen you for a specific purpose and destiny, your fear and anxiety are the character-building blocks to get there!”
We so often see that after our season of anxiety–when we are on the other side of it. In faith, we can accept it now. Thanks and God bless!
Nancy- I think remembering this makes such a difference! Thank you!
What a wonderful teaching on anxiety l, so very needed. One of the enemies best weapon because it isolates the suffering. Thanks for sharing
I totally understand anxiety, as I suffer from it. Fear is at the heart of my anxiety, fear of the unknown, or the possible failures. I read over and over in one of the Psalms this morning, “Fret not, fret not, fret not.” The only remedy I have found most helpful is to read the word of God in large chunks and for longer periods during those most fretful times. I loved reading your small steps to become an overcomer. Great read! 🙂 Very helpful to those of us who suffer anxiety along with you.