She Speaks In Faith, Not Fear

"It is not enough to take steps which may someday lead to a goal; each step must be itself a goal and a step likewise," Goethe. Since 8th grade (about 25 years now), I have dreamed of becoming a published author. Over the past few years, I have aspired to write a book. On the surface, this appears to be a lofty goal. Closer examination of my heart reveals writing a book is merely one step down the journey to replace fear with faith in my life.

Lately, God has been uncovering delightful evidence of chances to practice faith over fright through Lysa TerKeurst's blog. Right now, Lysa is offering the opportunity for someone to win a scholarship to Proverbs 31 Ministries’ She Speaks Conference in Charlotte, North Carolina, June 20-22, 2008. She Speaks is for speakers, writers and women’s ministry leaders.

I would love to go. When I first read about the scholarship contest, I was most excited about the prospect of overcoming the financial obstacle to my attending the conference. Today, my enthusiasm radiates from what entering the competition brought to light.

See, my initial excitement about the scholarship faded a little when I read you had to have a blog to enter the contest. After all, I just started reading blogs. When I started researching blogging this week, I discovered an overwhelming amount of information just on the basics of blogging. How could I create a worthy blog and entry in a few days? Scarey!

Anxiety gripped me. Despite my apprehension, I kept thinking about what God could lead me to do through my writing. This week became more about uncovering how God is working in my life to exchange faith for fear than about creating my first blog and entering a contest.

When Lysa recently gave her blog readers an opportunity to be published in the P31 Woman Magazine, I stepped out on faith, wrote an article for submission and posted a comment about it. Overcoming my worry of rejection ignited my passion for writing. Although entering was an accomplishment, fear kept me from creating a blog at the time.

Not this time! Each movement of faith inspires me to do more. I hope my writing will encourage others to find joy and contentment through God's purpose for their life. In doing so, I achieve another goal that is a step towards carrying out God's purpose for my life as well.