Are you facing something today that is scary new?
Maybe it’s a great step forward, something you’ve dreamed about and looked forward to but it’s still all new territory. Some days you think God picked the wrong girl and you feel fear trying to hold you back.
Or maybe it’s a step you never wanted. You didn’t see this one coming and it’s rife with unexpected unknowns and unwanted change. Fear is real because you can’t see how to navigate this and what in the world lies beyond it.
Maybe you’re parenting at a whole new stage and begging God for wisdom in this season. Just when you thought you had your footing and a steady rhythm, you’re a student all over again. Fear is taunting that you don’t have what it takes to do this and you’re gonna fail you *and* your kids.
I’ve been all three of these places and I’ll tell you what won’t work: trying to dig deep and muster up the guts to do the hard thing.
Summoning up every bit of our inner strength may move us forward but will still leave us short. Because some things are too hard for us.
We can have a call that is too big, an unwanted season that is too painful or a step forward that is too uncharted. Each of those can trigger real fear because we see our inadequacy so clearly when we’re faced with something new.
But nowhere in the Bible does God tell us to face our fear by tapping into our own inner strength.
God’s one answer when we fear new situations is always this — I will be with you.
When Moses protested that he wasn’t qualified to bring the Israelites out of Egypt, God said, “I will be with you.”
When Gideon argued he was the weakest in his family from the weakest clan of one of the weakest tribes God answered, “I will be with you.”
When Joshua was made leader to take a stiff-necked people into the Promised Land and fight for it, God said, “the Lord your God will be with you.”
When Isaiah prophesied he affirmed that when God’s people meet calamity, God says, “I will be with you.”
When the Hebrews were about to cross the Jordan into the Promised Land, they were reminded the “LORD your God is the one who will go with you; he will not leave you or abandon you.”
When Gabriel appeared to Mary to announce she would be with child, he first told her that “The Lord is with you.”
When Jesus was about to ascend back to heaven, His last words to His followers were, “I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
Each time we face a new situation, God is with us.
God never calls us to step out in trust that He doesn’t go with us. We never face a painful circumstance that God does not walk with us in it. And we never face the daunting needs of parenting or marriage or ministry or work that God is not in it with us.
We can face our fear of the new and move forward because —
God who holds our future and our purpose is with us.
God who is wisdom and who gives wisdom is with us.
God who sustains with grace sufficient is with us.
God who loves us incredibly and infinitely is with us.
God who knows us and our call completely is with us.
New situations can trigger such self-doubt and fear. But God’s answer every time we fear new situations is Himself. The Ancient of Days has been in our new since before time began. And He who is on our side will walk with us in it.
THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!! This word came at the right time for me. I’m a TV producer who is out of work and seeing no prospects on the horizon. My wife is expecting our first child, and I just turned 50! I am nervous, scared, all of it. Been going back and forth in my head. BUT I know what you say, what the Word says, what Abba says is true. I need to lean more on Him, His promises and not my own understanding.
Thank you. Be blessed as you have blessed me.
Eric, I am praying for you now, knowing that God’s provision is always sufficient and His ways more than we could ask or imagine.
I love this! Our last 8 months have brought new thing after new thing. God is asking us to do hard, exciting things where the outcome is in his hands. It’s a daily prayer to depend on him and let our delusion of self-reliance go. Actually hanging a sign with Joshua 1:9 so we remember God is with us whenever we head out the door!
I love that Joanna! Y’all have a big family trip coming up as well, right? Praying you see God in every detail.
Thank you for your study Mi
Blessings, Mary.
Really enjoyed this. Just what I needed to hear today. Thank you!
Me too, Brinly. And it’s so not pie in the sky. God’s palpable presence is the best comfort.
Bless you for this reminder. I’m scheduled for biopsy this week and although it’s scary and the outcome is unsure, God is always with me:)
Elizabeth, I just said a prayer for you. Keep the faith and God bless you. 🙂
Elizabeth, I’m praying for you evevn as I write this. You are held in the best hands.
What a needed and timely reminder.
About to go overseas to help my daughter & her husband w/ the birth of their second son and I’ve started experiencing a lingering toothache. However, it seems to be from a sinus infection that put the pressure on the roots, and a specialist confirmed that 98% was the sinus infection. I was very relieved at first, then the 2% & “what if’s” start visiting & revisiting. I had to tell myself “no what if.” The Lord will provide what I will need. Tomorrow will have its own trouble. And God’s mercies are new every morning.
And NOW reading this! The article is not only a good reminder but a cement that seals that knowledge from head into my heart. I can prepare & go w/o fear & w/ JOY.
Thank you. The Lord’s rich blessings on you for sharing.
ThieuTiet, the Lord bless you and keep you as you travel and are away from home. xoxo
Thank you for this, Lisa. Such a good word for my chapter 2. It’s so refreshing to remember God’s presence. Funny that has been my theme all day, and now I come read this!
Can’t wait to hear all the ways God will go before you in your transition, Betsy!
My son is going overseas for an internship by himself for 2.5 months this summer. It’s important for me to remember that not only will God be with me wherever I go, He will also be with my son wherever He goes and can protect and care for Him even when I can’t. thanks!
Yes! It’s almost harder to watch our kids launch off to big things. I’m at that same point.
Having just started a marriage and a blog in the past 9 months there have been a lot of scary moments. Thanks for sharing hope that will last!
Congratulations on both! I’m going to hop over and visit!
This word came right on time for me as well as I am stepping out into the new territory of a new relationship and starting my non-profit organization. I was fearful until i read this. Now I feel encouraged. I thank you again. You are truly a blessing!
Wow, praying you see God’s guidance so clearly as you launch, Tonja.
I can definitely relate to the first paragraph. I got a job that I really wanted and now that I’m here in a new place and position, I feel so under qualified. Also, I’ve been wanting to get involved more in my new church. Just before I read this, I got a text from a church member asking me to do something way out of my comfort zone. I nearly said no, but then I read this. God asks us to follow his commands, and also gives us the strength to follow them.
Thanks for posting!
Shannon, I’m right there with you! Realizing my weakness also helps me serve and that’s a good thing.
Thank you Lisa for this reminder again today! It was a gentle whisper to my soul that I needed. Bless you as you continue to encourage others in drawing bear to the Savior and God!
Oh, what a comfort it is to know He’s with us. And that, as you’ve so wisely put it, he never asks us to do anything in our strength. This warms my heart, friend. — And, I was *just* reading that passage yesterday about Gideon in Judges. 🙂 Such a soul-quieting post. Thank you. xoxo
Thank you. May 1st will be a year that I’ve lost my best friend and husband. It has been a lonely year of hell. I feel like I’ll never stop failing God and feel like I have NO purpose😢
Karen, praying for you now that you will see the hope and future God has for you. Grief is a bear. xoxoxo
Five years ago I was suddenly faced with a situation that I had no idea how to get through. As I searched for an answer God told me that I needed to stop “doing” and start “being” with Him. He used John 17:24, when Jesus is praying for us to be with him, like he is with the Father. That year I had “be with me” tattooed on my right wrist…my dominate hand, as a way to remind me when I was reaching to “do” that I needed to “be”. I am still learning how to “be with Him”. In the last year and a half my husband, our dog and my father died. All of this was too much for our son with autism and he bottomed out. 2017 was the darkest year of my life, BUT God is still sovereign and He is now bringing us to healing. I thought facing all of what we have walked through was hard…but now as I am facing the redemption of my life I am at a crossroad that I do not know how to move through. Scared and afraid that I will fail. Experiencing God’s presence when my life was falling apart at the seams was comforting, stepping into what could be and hoping for life again is harder than anything I have been through to date. Your post has been a blessing to me – I’ve printed it out to remind me that God is with me in BOTH the hard times and the promise of the future. I am seeking His face as I step forward.
Yes, God is with us in every season and stepping ahead into the next chapter is new every time.
Lisa, I’ve just discovered your blog. Recently my daughter was diagnosed with a rare genetic condition. She is 19 years old and has lived her whole life with a condition without a name. My husband and I have called it FAWM syndrome (fearfully and wonderfully made). Now that there is another name (KIF1A Neurological Disease) I find myself scared and uncertain. We will continue to look to Jesus for all of our unanswered questions and how sweet it was that today He reminded me, through this blog, that He will be with us. Our hope and trust is in Him. Thanks for sharing how He has been faithful in your path of suffering.
Love how turned around the diagnosis with your own name, Lori. Yes, God is our best hope even in the unwanted unknown.
I just came across your beautiful and exciting site. I loss my husband 6 years ago unexpectedly from a massive heart attack. I was 57 years at the time and he was 61. We were married for 36 yrs… We were out-of-town when it happened. Funny, I had begun reading the Bible months before his passing…God works in mysterious ways and I cling onto the Bible at night knowing God and Jesus are by my side providing with the strength I need. I have come a long way.. I work 6 days a week ..2 jobs. I pray for my health each day because without your health, you have nothing.