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What Fruit Does Fear Produce?

Let’s take a quick little  poll here…

Raise your hand if you have a if you have this passion or gifting brewing inside of you, but you don’t dare to step out and see what it may entail for fear of failure.

Okay now  raise both hands if you are staying put bottling up your passion because of fear of rejection.

Well, we are in the same boat my friend. But the good news is that we can jump ship, ditch fear, and dive head first into what the Lord has made us for.

I have said it once and I will say it before, I am a recovering people pleaser and I know that I am not the only one. When in a room full of people, you can catch me sitting with my mouth glued shut even though I have 1,001 thoughts running in my head that I would like to share. And like so many others, I have so many dreams and passions brewing instead of me that I suppres. It is because I am too stinking afraid to put myself out there and be vulnerable to any hint of rejection or criticism. 

Why in the world do we allow fear to hinder us from pursuing the things that are so strong on our hearts? What would it look like if we no longer overthought everything and we put the crazy what ifs aside and jumped fully into what God has in store for us? Can you imagine the fulfillment and joy that we would experience if we lived more out of obedience and less out of fear?

Ever since I was in college, I have really found an interest in writing. I went to a Christian university where our syllabi consisted more of writing papers more than taking tests. Okay, well sometimes we had to do both. Our professors had some strict guidelines for the outline of our papers from the page length, sources, content, etc. Although I sometimes threw a fit for having to glue my booty to the chair and write one paper after the next, I started to enjoy getting creative with my writing. Then my big move to the Dominican Republic gave me a reason to start a blog, and well now here we are. 

I have got to tell you though, that sometimes I get nervous to share my blogs and what is on my heart. There are times when I fear how others will respond, if I receive criticism (which constructive criticism is good. But I mean let’s be real here, who really wants to receive any sort of criticism?), and I even wrestle with feeling like I may annoy people with all I want to share. These may seem like silly little fears, but they are real to me. And maybe some of you dance around your passions too because of little fears in you.

By hiding and covering up the gifts that God has placed in us, we are neglecting those gifts and how the Lord wants to use them. If we allow fear to stand between us and our dreams or passions, what fruit will we see? What fruit does fear produce?

God wants to use us and our gifts in such mighty ways, but we often allow timidness to get in the way of stepping out in faith to do what is on our hearts. 

I want to encourage you today, friend, that whatever God is calling you towards, whatever He is brewing inside of you..go after it 100%. With all you have and with all your are, pursue the passions that He has placed on your heart because He wants to use you.

And whatever you feel you lack, whatever you feel insecure about, the words you are nervous to say, the Lord goes before you and brings all these pieces together. Look at the Bible. God called the most normal people to do the most incredible and miraculous things. He equips those who feel unequipped. And as we walk in obedience and just trusting His guidance, it brings Him glory because He uses us to produce mighty fruit. But first, we have to ditch the fear.

I’m Heaven Bound

I am embarrassingly good at allowing my mind to jump from one worse case scenario to the next. My thoughts bounce around in my head from one horrible thing that could happen to another terrible thing until I have this entirestory worked

up in my mind that may or may not even come about. I feel like this is something that most women wrestle with. We are HUGE overthinkers and sometimes we cannot stop our brains from going and going. My poor husband. Sometimes he has to remind me, “hey mi amor, tranquila (hey my love, calm down). Todo va a estar bien (everything will work out).” God has just wired us very differently. 

This morning my mind was going crazy filling up with a ton of hypotheticals. But then I had a thought that reminded me of how I have been focusing on the wrong things. 

The thought that popped into my head went a little like this, “so what if this situation does not turn out the way I would like? I know where my hope lies. I know that I am Heaven bound, and no bad news or disappointing situation will ever change that.” 

I have been putting my hope in things that just don’t matter. I have been putting my hope in people, things that are fleeting, and even worldly success. Something radical happens as I shift my perspective from things of this world to my Jesus. As I switch my lens from a worldly lens to an eternal lens, I find myself

– less worried

– more joyful

–and more eager to love people where they are at. 

It is way too stinking easy to slide into the patterns of this world and start trusting in man or trusting in things that we expect to bring us joy. I am 100% guilty of this.  But as I spend more time with God and meditate on His word, I am reminded that my hope is in Jesus alone.

Everything is fleeting. The things we own may be great for a year and then they break and need to be replaced. Even friendships can be seasonal sometimes. But our Jesus, He is the One thing that will always remain. And as we prepare for His return, we must set our minds on the things that are eternal. The things that matter. To hold loosely to things and money and hold tightly to what the Word of God says and God’s promises to us. 

Towards the end of 2021 I really wrestled with trying to be expectant of how God would answer my bold prayers while also trying to not set myself up for disappointment if those things did not come to pass. I am sure many can relate to this. One Sunday morning I was worshiping with my family at their church in the states and it hit me:

-I was putting my hope in the things that I wanted God to do for me instead of in God Himself

–My hope is not in whether or not God will answer my prayers the way I desire. But my hope is in who He is, His unchanging character and goodness, and that He has called me Heavenward. 

-I had to shift my perspective and put my hope in Jesus alone because of who He is and not based on what He did for me

Our hope is in the fact that our Jesus came, defeated death, tore the veil so we can be in relationship with Him, and He is coming again. Did you catch that? Our Savior is coming for us again! This is our solid hope. The same God throughout Scripture who was faithful even when His people were faithless is the SAME God that we serve. He is never changing. In a world that can be chaotic and overwhelming, our God is constant. HE is nuestra esperanza (our hope). 

 Now, as I narrow my focus on my Creator, He begins to transform my thoughts. No longer am I concerned with all the potential things that could happen or stressing over what I will fill my belly with tomorrow. No longer am I placing my hope in the way I want or expect God to respond.

No, I am placing my confidence solely in Jesus because He is the I AM. He is who He says He is. I know what truly matters and choose to set my thoughts on things above. I know that I am Heaven bound, and no one or thing can separate me from the love of my Jesus. 

Where are you placing your hope and confidence today?

Lord, Give Me Urgency

My heart feels extra heavy today. There is so much need, so much darkness, and so much division in our world. As I hear the news, read different posts, and see videos and pictures of things that are happening all around the globe, my heart breaks. I told myself that this morning I would focus on fighting on my knees, but I feel I cannot even find the words. All I can get out are tears. As the tears roll down my cheeks, I ask the Holy Spirit to intercede for me. 

When I was in college, I took a class called Global Cultural Intelligence. This class was KEY in opening my eyes to see the world through Jesus’ lens. You see, I grew up in a very small town with very little diversity where people mainly focused on what was going on in their own world or the world of their neighbors (you know–in small towns everyone knows everyone else’s business). Being global minded wasn’t even something that I had heard of. 

Since moving to the Dominican, I have had a serious perspective shift. Through many conversations with my people here in the DR and my students from different countries all over, I have felt convicted that I am sometimes ignorant of what is going on in the world. One thing I have come to realize is that our world is God’s world–and to be aware of things going on in the world shows us how we can better and more specifically be praying and interceding. 

I feel like the Lord has put the word, “urgency” on my heart. 

-Urgency for the time we are living in

-Urgency for people who do not know Christ

-Urgency to share His hope to the brokenness in our world

-Urgency to be His hands and feet and share the Gospel unhindered

-Urgency to fight in prayer 

I will be 100% honest with you…during my prayer time I typically pray for those in my circle. But that isn’t who I want to be. I want to be a prayer warrior for my people and the people I haven’t even met yet. I want to be the kind of person who doesn’t just read the news or hear of current events and flip a switch back to whatever I was doing because it isn’t directly happening to me.I want to have God’s lens for His world and His people. Whatever is on His heart, I want it to be on my heart. Whatever breaks His heart, I want it to break my heart. 

So in my prayer time today I did not just focus on lifting up those who are being threatened, persecuted, or facing trials right now.

 I prayed also for us–the Church–that we would be an extension of Christ to our hurting world.

 I prayed that Jesus would tear down walls of division even among the body of Christ so that we can stand united to make Jesus’ presence known and His love felt to a world that is desperate for hope and redemption. 

I prayed for urgency so that we may know that the Lord is coming and there are so many that haven’t been told the Good News yet. 

May the Lord plant urgency on all of our hearts. To be global minded, to be people who pursue unity and peace tearing down walls of division, to be people who fight on our knees, and to be His hand and feet.