Choose faith over fear.
I praise God for what he has promised; yes, I praise the Lord for what he has promised. I trust in God, so why should I be afraid? What can mere mortals do to me? Psalm 56:10-11
It’s all about perspective.
Personally, I’ve had plenty of “opportunities” to grow through pain and choose faith over fear. I grew up self-consciously inflating the reality that people were always watching me — that I was an example-setter, role-model, and standard for good behavior. It’s important to be an intentional elder sibling, but it’s crippling to fear public opinion and play a role instead of discovering your uniqueness.
To break out of such bondage, most people either rebel with “screw you” flare, or we have to go through devastation and embarrassment. My path was the latter. Circumstances presented me with the opportunity to:
a) Continue to obsess about other people’s view of me, or
b) Choose faith over fear
I choose the faith that more and more unique ME is what the world needs—not another religious robot.
I choose the faith that I am fearfully and wonderfully made—weaknesses and all.
I choose the faith that resurrection is real and everything is forgiven.
I choose the faith that good is coming from bad—all the time.
I choose the faith that God is more interested in walking with me, not in me managing my image.
Choose faith over the fear. And you may have to do so more than a few times today.