Do you have fears that hold you back from opportunities to grow? Dwelling in fear versus faith makes all the difference in what you are willing to do. How you choose to approach the risks and opportunities set before you will largely determine your lot in life and impact your potential for happiness.

Fear-Based Living

If a speeding car is heading straight for you, fear helps trigger you to get out of the way. Thus healthy fear protects us from imminent danger. But if our fear leads us to avoid normal traffic routes because we start to imagine that disaster is bound to strike us, we have allowed our fear to control the way we live. Fear has taken over in an unhealthy way.

It is our choice whether or not we remain miserable and bound by fear. Perhaps we do this because we imagine it is better to be stuck in a rut than to experience the pain of disappointment or the trauma of another close call. Or maybe we focus so much on what we have failed at that we decide not to take any more of those kinds of risks again. This leaves us trapped and filled with regret, the only consolation being that our situation could have been worse. Yet it is more mentally torturing to look back and think how our life could have been better and more rewarding if we had not been so hamstrung by fear.

Faith-Based Living

Living in faith, a person can ask, "What's the worst that can happen?" and then pursue the best outcome instead. When we can realistically assess possible outcomes and see when our fears are not worth fretting over, we are able to move forward more confidently.

But if faith is the opposite of fear, does that mean we should not pay any attention to fear? Faith does not mean we are blind or reckless. Knowing the occasions when fear is appropriate and when it is not is essential to wisdom. Reasonable fear can actually complement faith when our fear helps us decide against doing something foolish, immoral or unethical, because we are rightly afraid of the negative consequences. We can move forward in faith when consequences have been weighed and we believe there are good reasons to take action. People who live in faith do not let their dreams become smothered by negative thoughts; rather they keep their options open and consider the possibilities before them with an open mind.

How can you move forward in the face of fear and uncertainty? Choose to have faith and "doubt your doubts". Even if you have some setbacks, you can continue to grow and improve yourself. You see your prize ahead, but before you lies a chasm with no apparent way to cross to the other side. In the struggle between fear versus faith, are you one to let fear get the best of you and turn back? Or, like Indiana Jones did in his pursuit of the Holy Grail, will you step forward on an invisible path beneath your feet? Faith can help you see hidden possibilities as you step toward your goals and expand your horizons.