As I just told Miriam, we'll die a hundred times before the day finally comes if we give in to fear.

Feelings are indicators, not dictators, child. They can indicate where your heart is in the moment, but that doesn't mean they have the right to dictate your behavior and boss you around. You are more than the sum total of your feelings and perfectly capable of that little gift from Jesus called self-control!

Every time I took a step outside my comfort zone, I grew spiritually. I discovered God's plan and stopped operating within the limitations of my own experiences. And I discovered a powerful truth along the way: When we take calculated risks, we discover God-given talents and facets of our personality waiting to be developed.

I may not be gentle by nature, but I can be gentle by obedience. If — and only if— I equip myself with predetermined biblical procedures that I can rely on when I start to feel the great unglued coming on.

Yes, I am fully loved, fully accepted, and fully empowered to say no to my flesh. Speak that truth in the power He's given you. Believe that truth in the power He's given you. Live that truth in the power He's given you. That's how you tell your flesh no. That's how you live fully prepared in the fullness of God.

There is no perfect decision—only the perfectly surrendered decision to press through our fears and know that God is working in us to bring about good through us. Let's state it

The enemy loves to take our rejection and twist it into a raw, irrational fear that God really doesn't have a good plan for us.

Fear isn't something you can sweep up into a pile and discard. It isn't physical. It hovers and haunts us in the spiritual realm. It attacks us in the unseen.

Fear makes the gap between where I am and trusting God seem an impossible chasm.

What did they do in the midst of this confusion? They cried out in fear instead of calling out to their Lord in faith. They were terrified. Why? Let's look at that word terrified as it is used in these scriptures. It's tarasso, which means "to set in motion what needs to remain still." Can

Some church-raised young adults experience similar self-doubt when it comes to making spiritual judgments. Instead of equipping them to make thoughtful, prayerful decisions and then to trust God for the outcome, the church has instilled a debilitating fear of sin or "stepping out of God's will." How can we expect the next generation to move forward with confidence into God's future when they are scared of making a misstep?1

How we spend our souls matter...We have to desire to become fearless with these moments [of decision]. Fight through the doubt and discouragement and awkwardness of new. (32)