Courage Is Not The Absence Of Fear

Some mornings the loudest voice in the room is fear. This is a reminder that fear does not get the final word.

There was a moment this week when I found myself saying something that made me stop in the middle of my own sentence.

I was not just speaking to someone I love. I was speaking to myself. Have you ever done that?

You begin encouraging someone else and suddenly you realize the words coming out of your mouth are the very words your own heart has been waiting to hear.

We were talking about fear.

When Fear Sounds Like Wisdom

Not the kind of fear that protects us from danger. The quieter kind. The kind that whispers, “What if you fail? What if you are not good enough? What if this does not work out?”

It is the kind of fear that convinces us to wait until we are more prepared, more certain, more qualified, or more secure before taking the next step.

The problem is that day rarely comes. If we wait until fear disappears, we may spend our entire lives waiting.

After my divorce, I discovered a kind of fear I had never known before. Life had changed and for the first time in decades I was making decisions completely on my own. Fear sounded practical. Responsible. Even wise.

Looking back now, I can see that fear was never trying to help me live. It was trying to keep me from moving.

So, I made a decision. Not that I would never feel fear again, that is impossible.

I decided that fear simply was not going to sit in the driver’s seat anymore. I have learned that courage is not the absence of fear. It is deciding that fear does not get to make your decisions.

Every application, every chapter, every phone call, every prayer, every difficult conversation, every promise I kept to myself became evidence. Evidence that I had survived difficult seasons before, that I had learned, that I could keep going, that God had never stopped walking beside me.

Courage Is Not the Absence of Fear

Fear never expected us to become stronger than its voice. Every time we choose courage over certainty, take one more step, and keep a promise to ourselves, fear loses a little more of its authority.

Not because life suddenly becomes easy, but because we begin collecting evidence. One day we look back and realize something extraordinary. The mountain we were so afraid to climb became the place where we discovered who we really were.

I no longer believe the goal is to become fearless. I believe the goal is to become the woman God created us to be.

Today I choose faith.

I choose to keep walking.

I choose joy.

If fear is whispering in your ear today, smile. Thank it for its opinion, then keep walking.

Because your future has never been waiting on fear’s permission, it has been waiting on your faith.