In a few short days, I’ll be able to check #48, fill up my journal, off of my 101 in 1001 list. My little journal has been around for three freaking years. I carry it around everywhere so it’s ultra beat up, but I don’t always write in it… even though I always go on and on about how people need to journal. I tend to only write in my journal when I REALLY need it.
The other day I was flipping through my journal, re-reading some entries and making note of the things I’d taped in when I saw this post it with something my friend Bee had told me.
You can be fearful, just do things anyway. ~Bee.
Bee knows me – like REALLY knows me – probably better than 95% of all the other people in my life. He is on the receiving end of a lot of my crazy. Who knows what this quote was in response to, all I know is that I was probably freaking out about SOMETHING.
I’ve been thinking a lot about uppercase TRUSTING God. If all my thoughts could somehow magically become blog posts, that would be awesome for you because God’s been revealing a lot about trusting.
When I stumbled on Bee’s words, I was excited because I’m finally at a place where I’m learning that God says DO NOT BE AFRAID because THINGS ARE SOMETIMES SCARY! The big popular verse where God says that is Joshua 1:9..
Have I not commanded you?
Be strong and courageous.
Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged,
for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.
This happened right as the Israelites were getting ready to go into the land God promised them. If it had been this big giant empty space of land, this command would have just been fluff. It would have been like “yeah yeah yeah… let’s go pitch our tents.” But there were people occupying the land God was giving them.
The Israelites were about to embark on a battle to claim the land God was giving them. God was with them, but the battle was still looming, and was still scary.
It’s kind of like the Madeleine L’Engle quote I posted last week. The promise wasn’t that bad things won’t come. The promise wasn’t that there will be nothing to fear. The promise is I AM WITH YOU. In the face of the bad things, in the face of the fearful things… we have One on our side who holds us by the right hand and walks with us bravely into what is unknown to us.
There have been a few times the past few months that I’ve had to be brave.
and let me say this.
I was freaking scared as heck.
There was a moment when I sat with trembling hands, spinning head and a racing heart… and I despite that, I had to get up and talk to someone.
It wasn’t that there was nothing scary.
It’s just that I knew who was beside me. So I went ahead and did the thing.
I’m going to leave you with the words of my friend Bee one more time, just in case some of you need to hear it. and I want to know if you needed to hear it!
Oh, I LOVE Bee’s words! That is just so, so on point. I, too, am learning at lot about “uppercase TRUST” but also to just DO things – take the risk, even if its scary.
Funny – I too go on about how great journaling is, then only do it when I really need to. Last night, I felt really moved to pray for someone so that’s what I did. I went home after our little group outing, pulled out my journal, and wrote out a prayer for them – that God would work on their heart and their insecurities. I think its perfectly okay just to journal when you need to – that’s when the words and the truth come out in the rawest form. 🙂
isn’t it weird how we totally recognize the things we need to be doing and then just go ahead and DON’T DO THEM? haha we are such weirdos! i find that i feel the healthiest overall when i’m consistently journaling. but in general i’m having a hard time sticking to a schedule of any sort so that kind of makes it hard. and plus. my journal is beyond retirement age. i’m ready to start my new one <3
This is so true! I should probably write that quote and put it somewhere so I can see it regularly, too. 🙂
YES!!! it’s such a good one. bee is smart sometimes. the rest of the time he’s deliberately trying to make me angry haha.