If you haven’t seen the pictures yet, my family went skydiving last week. I told myself over and over that I wouldn’t talk or even think about it until the minute we arrived, and to be honest I was freaking out on the inside. As we sat down to sign liability waivers, I made fun of the number of times I read “possibility of death,” but it actually scared the bajeebies out of me.

Things got real when my instructor, Raul, strapped my jumpsuit on. Next thing I knew we were boarding the plane, then the plane was taking off, then we were hitting 12… 13… 14,000 feet!!! Raul was tugging on my straps, making sure my gear was ready for the jump. I told myself that I had two options – to either trust Raul or die (okay that’s an exaggeration – there was only a small chance of dying, but you get the point). The door zipped open and seconds flew by before it was my turn to jump. We stood with my toes hanging over the edge of the doorway; I couldn’t believe I was doing this. My fear of heights was deafening… but I jumped anyways.

And I landed safely. I am alive, all thanks to Jesus (and Raul).

Fear. We all deal with it, sometimes every day. It can overcome us if we allow it to, but we are given the choice to either listen to God’s voice or listen to our fears. Fear can cause us to reduce the size of God and enhance the size of our problems, but we have the power to overcome it. Not just by ourselves though; with Jesus’s help. We can overcome fear with our faith, because God is so much greater than our fears. He knows our every thought, doubt and fear, and can walk us through them if we choose to listen to Him.

“For I, the Lord your God, hold your right hand; it is I who says to you, “Fear not, I am the one who helps you.” – Isaiah 41:13

Take a leap of faith, but don’t be fooled – these leaps of faith will bring hurdles to jump over. In the midst of hard times God still commands us to be obedient just like Noah was. He was given a task bigger than he could physically handle, but God provided. So whatever fears you have right now, choose to listen to God and trust that He will provide exactly what you need.

There were actually some fears I had with starting this blog. Honestly I was extremely nervous that no one would want to read what I wrote, or that I wasn’t equipped enough to write about Jesus, or that I would just flat out fail. I thought I was crazy for thinking that I would actually WANT to write anything at all. (I hate essays!) For months I made up excuses for myself as to why I shouldn’t do this, because I was acting out of fear. I had to take some deep breaths, pray and rely on faith – kind of like jumping out of a plane.

But I took that leap of faith, and God sure has provided! He’s opened up doors that I would never have touched on my own. He’s used my blog as a conversation starter, to make friends who are doing the same thing I am, and to tell people about Jesus in order to further His Kingdom.

“…for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.” – 2 Timothy 1:7

So as for your little boost of encouragement – whatever nerves, struggles, doubts, insecurities, mistakes, sins or worries you may have; whatever storm you are caught up in, just know that Jesus is bigger.

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