Faith...or Fear?

Today's Reasoning:

Have you ever considered the faith of a child? They trust you will help them grow while protecting them from harm. That's how God asks us to come to Him. With the faith of (as) a child. Warner seems to fear nothing. She will do just about anything to prove to herself, if to no one else, that she can do it. I love how she sees her world. So full of opportunities that she can be a part of if she but reaches for them.

Yet, as we age, life has a way of distracting us from the truth we once believed. We begin to see with our natural understanding as our eyes feed us information. The "what ifs" begin to pop up as we put our hands to the future we long for. It's when we lose focus of what we were created for, that chaos comes front and center. Travel with me for a short bit as we look at faith verses fear.

Faith is to believe what one has not seen. The reward of faith is to see what one has believed.

We all are driven by faith or fear...one or the other. Both are the same. Faith or fear is the expectation of an event that hasn't come to pass or the belief in something that cannot be seen or touched.

If we allow fear to guide us, we will always live on the edge of insanity. On the other hand, if we allow faith to guide us, we will always live in perpetual reward.

Many of us believe ourselves to be more of a realist, a person of reason, while never considering what drives us. Fear...or faith? You know what I'm saying. Right? We look at our situation(s) and begin the process of slicing and dicing it, trying to understand the why of it all. We look at all sides of it and consider the realistic parts of it. But, how often do we simply say to those situations, "I trust in the One who guides me. I know He is for my good so I will trust in what I cannot see."

Some things to consider:

1) Reason never makes room for miracles; faith releases miracles.

2) Between you and anything significant will be giants in your path.

3) Times of distress have always been what produced the greatest of mankind.

4) The hardest steel is produced from the hottest fire.

5) The brightest star shreds the darkest night.

As my days grow exceedingly shorter, I think of how it would feel to be chained to a mirror of regret, where I would spend eternity examining a reflection of the person I could have become, but didn't, because of the fears of all the "what ifs". Instead of trusting completely in the greatness God instilled inside me from the beginning of life, have I let fear guide me instead of faith?

It has taken me most of my time here on earth to understand we limit ourselves by living in the fear that we have no choice but to accept "what we've been handed." Much of the time, we believe "this is just my life," with no understanding of how to change it. So, we simply give up and live out our lives defeated. We have wasted the greatness of God.

I will leave you with this. Faith delivers a life of peace. However, it comes by way of choice. Just as fear does. The future, as we choose it, is ours. If we choose to ignore wisdom, the future God put within our grasp, will be lost.

Know this...

• Our past does not define us.
• We must seek wisdom.
• We must take action.
• We must not allow criticism, condemnation, nor complaint (even our own), to have control over us.
• We must choose happiness.
• We must choose to forgive those not deserving our forgiveness.
• And finally, we must persist in spite of difficulty. We limit our tomorrows by the doubt we hold onto today...

Jeremiah 29:11 says, "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." #myjourneyamongtheunseen #lifeissues #theforgottenway #faithorfear 

Thankful for the power of choice, here you will find me...in Mary's World