I PICKED up The Open Bible (Nelson KJV) a few days ago to study the book of Ephesians because that is what we are discussing for bible study. My instinct or divine order directed me to the book of Esther instead and I am happy it did. “God’s hand of providence and protection on behalf of His people is evident throughout the Book of Esther, though his name does not appear once.” This is how the book began. I decided to ponder on the statement. “God’s hand of providence and protection on behalf of His people.” I have a creative mind and sometimes it refuses to shut off. I thought about the many times I felt protected because I believed God’s hand is always protecting me and my family. We like to feel loved, protected and cared for because that lessens our fears. Hebrews 11:1 “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.”

Sometimes when we encounter FEAR we rediscover our FAITH. It is not always easy to believe in the unknown with a strong conviction. Believing in God, yourself and people can overwhelm us sometimes. Faith in God to do the impossible; faith in yourself to take that risk and go beyond your human capacity. Also, faith in others- believing people have a desire to be good to each other. Some people have faith in God, but none or little in themselves and sometimes faith in others but not in God and vice versa.

Presently, many people all over the world are fearful because of everything that is happening around us.

CRISIS! CHAOS! and CONFUSION! are words I heard so many times in the last few weeks. I am an optimist so I tend to look at a glass half full, so I thought of three more C words: Courage, Conviction and Clarity. We all can discover courage, conviction and clarity in the crisis, chaos and confusion if we are intentional about finding them. Sometimes we have to go through trials and tribulations to get to triumph. If we have a choice most of us will omit those two T words from our journeys. One of the things that help me is my faith which assisted me to develop a resilient mindset as I go through a tumultuous season. We are all under construction and the foundation can determine how strong we are.

I believe God is laying a strong foundation for the construction he has planned for me. He is the master architect and I trust him. I am no architect or builder, but I would say skyscrapers require a more solid foundation using more steel and other materials and going deeper in the ground because they have to withstand strong winds, etc. I believe my construction is not a house but a skyscraper, so my trials will be deeper, but I will endure because I am courageous. Nelson Mandela said, “I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear. Something else I read somewhere about is ”Courage is not the absence of fear, but the presence of faith.” I read that somewhere and it stuck in my head. Feeling discouraged and feeling to quit will happen to all of us, but we need to stop thinking about the people or things we need and think about the people who need us. One of the greatest things we can do is not get help from God or people for yourself but reach out for help for someone else. We have become so consumed with self and it is contributing the first sets of C words mentioned above. We have to find a way to care more for each other because we have a world full of hurting people.

We also have to find a way to feed our faith and starve our fear. Fear causes us the despair of our future, but faith enables us to depend on God for the future. Fear is a result of being self-dependent and faith is a result of being God-dependent.

Energy grows where energy goes and I will have to be intentional to chart that course by creating the right atmosphere. Be selective of the things you listen to or the people you share your space with.

Try to stay away from people who exaggerate and instil fear in others. Never let fear decide your future, because it can be crippling and will make you settle for less. You may be thinking, “Is she preaching because it is Sunday”? That is okay for you to think that, because these words are a reminder for me.

I refuse to settle because I believe we all were created to fulfil a purpose and I encourage you to believe the same as we continue to celebrate this beautiful journey called life BEYOND THE RUNWAY.