There’s a moment most of us know well. You’re standing at the edge of something — a new opportunity, a difficult conversation, a dream that’s been quietly growing in your heart — and everything in you wants to step back. Fear whispers that you’re not ready, not qualified, not enough.
But what if that fear isn’t the final word?
The Invitation Beyond Comfort
Scripture is filled with ordinary people who heard an extraordinary call and felt utterly unequipped to answer it. Moses stammered that he wasn’t a good speaker. Gideon insisted he was the least in his family. Jeremiah protested that he was too young. And yet, woven through each of their stories is a consistent theme: God doesn’t call the qualified — He qualifies the called.
When God appeared to Joshua before the daunting task of leading Israel into the promised land, He didn’t offer a detailed battle plan or guarantee an easy road. Instead, He offered something better: His presence. “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” (Joshua 1:9).
The command to “be strong and courageous” appears over and over in Scripture — not because following God is easy, but because it requires us to move forward even when our knees are shaking.
Fear Is Not the Opposite of Faith
Here’s something that took me years to understand: feeling afraid doesn’t mean you lack faith. Courage isn’t the absence of fear; it’s the decision to act despite it. Even Jesus, in the garden of Gethsemane, wrestled with the weight of what lay ahead. He sweat drops of blood. He asked if there was another way. And then He moved forward anyway.
Your trembling hands don’t disqualify you. Your racing heart doesn’t mean you’ve failed some spiritual test. It means you’re human — and you’re standing at the threshold of something that matters.
Redefining What “Enough” Means
So much of our hesitation comes from measuring ourselves against an impossible standard. We look at our limitations and conclude we have nothing to offer. But Paul writes about a different equation: “But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness’” (2 Corinthians 12:9).
This is the great reversal of the kingdom. The world says strength is found in self-sufficiency. The gospel says strength is found in dependence — in showing up with your five loaves and two fish and watching God multiply what you thought was too small to matter.
You don’t have to have it all figured out. You don’t have to be the smartest person in the room, the most talented, the most experienced. You just have to be willing. Willingness, partnered with God’s grace, has always been enough.
Taking the Next Step
Maybe you’ve been circling the same decision for months. Maybe there’s a calling you’ve been running from, a conversation you’ve been avoiding, a gift you’ve been burying because using it feels too risky.
Here’s my encouragement: you don’t have to take a giant leap. Faith often looks less like a dramatic jump and more like a single, trembling step. And then another. And then another.
Start where you are. Use what you have. Trust that the God who placed that dream in your heart is faithful to help you steward it.
The fear may not disappear. But it doesn’t have to drive. You were made for more than a life ruled by “what ifs.” You were made for purpose, for contribution, for a story that’s still being written.
Take the step. He’ll meet you there.
“For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.” — 2 Timothy 1:7
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