From Fear To Faith
Having faith and trusting in a better tomorrow may not be easy. But I know it’s possible. Let’s move you from fear to faith.
Faith has always been a strong part of my life.
Defined as “complete trust and confidence in someone or something,” faith allows you to believe in what you understand to be true, regardless of whether it is something you’ve ever seen with your own eyes.From Fear to Faith
That’s a difficult concept to deal with when you’re facing real challenges in life.
Having faith and trusting in a better tomorrow when today looks bleak or fuzzy sounds like something in a fairytale story that ends with “…..and they lived happily ever after…..”
I get it.
There have been days when it would have been easier to stay in bed than have the faith to believe that everything was working out for my greatest good.
It would have been easier to close down my business and get a job.
It would have been easier to pretend there wasn’t anything wrong with my relationship with my best friend than to go deep into the conversation about how we got so off track.
Yet, faith tells me to believe that it’s all going to be okay.
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In my 4th book, “Turn Possibilities into Realities,” I wrote a chapter entitled “From Fear to Faith.”
From Fear to Faith
When I chose that title, it was because most of my life was wracked with fear of being seen and the faith and courage it took to be unapologetically me.
I didn’t do this of my own accord.
Mother Theresa said, “Honesty and transparency make you vulnerable. Be honest and transparent anyway.”
Every time I write about my shortcomings or speak about them in a keynote address, I recognize it would be easier to be less vulnerable.
I do it because I have faith that lives will be changed when I speak up – and conversations will move into authentic communication.
One of my favorite pieces on what faith is and what it isn’t is from Napoleon Hill so I’ve included it below.
May you have the faith to step into what you’re being called to do in the world and design your destiny with the courage and resolve that the world needs you and your brilliance.
FAITH
by Napoleon Hill
Faith permits one to approach within communicating distance of Infinite Intelligence (or God, If you prefer that name). Fear holds one at arm’s length and makes communication impossible.
Faith creates an Abraham Lincoln; fear develops an Al Capone.
Faith evolves a great leader; fear creates a cringing follower.
Faith makes men honorable at trade; fear makes men dishonest and stealthy-minded.
Faith causes one to look for and to find the best there is in men; fear discovers only their shortcomings and deficiencies.
Faith unmistakably identified itself through the look in one’s eyes, the expression on one’s face, the tone of one’s voice, and the way one walks; fear identifies itself through the same avenues.
Faith attracts only that which is helpful and constructive; fear attracts only that which is destructive.
Right works through faith; wrong works through fear.
Anything that causes one to be afraid should have close examination.
Both faith and fear have a tendency to clothe themselves in physical realities, through the most practical and natural media available.
Faith constructs; fear tears down. The order never is reversed!
Faith and fear never fraternize. Both cannot occupy the mind at the same time. One or the other must, and always does, dominate.
Faith can lift an individual to great heights of achievement in any calling; fear can and does make achievement impossible in any calling.
Fear ushered in the worst panic the world has ever known; faith will usher it out again.
Faith is nature’s alchemy with which she mixes and blends the spiritual with the physical and mental forces.
Fear will no more mix with spiritual force than will oil with water.
Faith is every man’s privilege. When exercised, it removes most of the real and all of the imagined limitations with which man binds himself in his own mind.
The fact that most men of science are free from all forms of fear, while those who know but little or nothing of science and natural law are steeped in it, is most significant.
Source: “Napoleon Hill’s Greatest Speeches” The Napoleon Hill Foundation. Sound Wisdom Shippensburg, PA. 2016 Pgs. 256 – 257.
Action Item:
The Upside Challenge of the week is to identify where you need a little more faith – and a little less fear. What will you do to step into your brilliance?
The world needs you and your brilliance.
