Fear Can Fuel the Furnace: How to Overcome Fear and Step Into Your Calling

Fear Isn’t Always Obvious — But It’s Always There

When was the last time you can honestly say that you conquered a fear?

The bible says "So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand." (Isaiah 41:10)

This verse offers comfort but fear isn’t always obvious. I’ve found that we carry both conscious and unconscious fears. How many times have we said, “Yeah, that’s just not for me,” or, “I had a bad experience with that, and I just don’t want to go there again”?

Don't get me wrong, I'm not discounting trying something and it not being for you but I'd like to challenge you by asking, “What's really stopping you from doing it?”

"I'm afraid of what people may think."

"But what would other people say?"

"I've been hurt by it in the past."

When Fear Turns Into Your Narrative

I remember when I had to memorize a poem for my middle school English class. I knew I had stage fright so I did everything I could to really try and memorize this poem. I even downloaded an audio version of it because I could memorize songs easily so I thought I could memorize an audible poem too! (Honestly, a great idea for anyone that has to memorize something.)

The day of the recital came and I stood in front of 10 of my closest friends, which should be no pressure, and...I froze. I could only remember the first four lines of a 3-minute poem. I sat down, pale as can be, and was awarded a "D" for my hard-fought efforts.

I could tell you multiple stories about how I choked under pressure. From when I got the yips playing quarterback in high school, or how I lost the race to be ASB Class Representative (not even president) after I sweated my way through an embarrassing class speech. The crazy thing is that I can't really tell you something that I "learned" from those experiences, but I can tell you those aren't my only ones.

Now here’s something negative that I think God used in a positive way. Growing up my family faced a lot of challenges. Looking to my mom for answers, like the strong woman she is, she showed us a sense of stoic bravery to not allow our emotions, including fear, to dictate our actions or well-being. What we thought was bravery at the time, ended up being a band-aid solution because we learned to bury our emotions and not express anything we were dealing with or going through. After some years of therapy and deep family conversations, we learned this wasn’t the way to handle emotions. But my upbringing taught me to keep fear hidden and as I learned buried fear doesn’t disappear, it just disguises itself. I didn’t learn to face it until I let God into it.

The Encounter That Changed Everything

I was listening to a podcast by Rich Wilkerson Jr and Sadie Robertson Huff and she used a term I liked. She had mentioned that her life changed with an encounter with the Holy Spirit. I used to talk about a moment in my life I rededicated my life to the Lord. Looking back, I believe that moment was my encounter with the Holy Spirit.

I surrendered my life to the Lord and recognized Jesus as my savior when I was in 5th grade. I got baptized in my Senior year of High School but then lost my way during college. But it wasn’t until a moment in my room during my senior year of college when I remember reading my Bible and feeling so close to God - I believed now I had an encounter with the Holy Spirit. I bring up my testimony because this was truly the moment that changed me from a scared hopeless boy into a young man on a mission.

I saw life differently, I saw people differently, and I just wanted to know more about God. For most of my life, I had trained myself to bury fear and suppress emotion but that encounter with the Holy Spirit was the first time I allowed myself to truly feel again. It was the moment I realized healing doesn’t happen through avoidance, but through God’s presence.

Bravery Isn’t the Absence of Fear — It’s the Presence of God

Here’s the important part to know - this didn’t make me “less fearful”, this didn’t make me “not care what anyone else thought”, and this didn’t make all my past hurt just “go away”.

The difference now was that I had a chance to be brave knowing that I had the Lord protecting me with “His righteous right hand”. Bravery and having a relationship with God doesn’t mean the fear goes away but it’s our decision to choose to be brave that allows us to not allow fear to stand in the way of our calling because we can have confidence that God is with us.

God doesn’t show us the path and have us walk down it. He allows us to live life and try new things but not be held back by our past hurts and fears. He’ll be with us every step of the way if we commit the decision to him.

Fear can be something that we don't necessarily need to swallow but it’s something we can give to God and say “I’m scared - please Lord, come with me” and He will be right there.

Obedience Over Confidence

There was never a moment I can say I overcame my fear of public speaking. In college, part of my courses in business was a public speaking class. I didn’t allow my fears to stop me from taking the class because at the time I knew how to bury my emotions and keep going. I took the class and I can tell you that I felt like the worst one in the class but I did it. For my first internship in Finance I had to present a project to some of the executive leadership team at a big corporate company. I remember not being the strongest presenter but I did it. Fast forward a couple years and any moment I had to speak I would never turn it down because no matter how I felt, I didn’t let fear stop me.

Now I’ve been the MC for multiple corporate events, I hosted pep rallies at my former elementary school, and I continue to do the announcement at church on Sundays. There's never been a single moment I can say I’m not nervous to do something big or new but I’ve seen God's faithfulness to be there and get me through it when I’m obedient to a calling.

Fear Might Be the Barrier — But It’s Not the End

So whether you’re nervous about what other people might think, scared to do it again because you’ve been hurt before, or wrestling with your own mind. Fear might be standing in the way, but it could be an indicator of a better future God has for you if we press through it.

“Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.” (Deuteronomy 31:6)

Let Me Know Your Story!

You’re not the only one afraid — but you don’t have to walk alone.
Subscribe below and let’s take brave steps together. One post, one prayer, one step at a time.