Hi guys! Thanks for stopping by the blog today. I wanted to share a personal story with you that really got me thinking about how we choose faith over fear. It seems easy enough reading it, but seeing it play out in real life caught me by surprise and I felt compelled to share it with all of you.
I was driving my son Cameron to daycare this past week and out of the blue he said, “mom, I want to tell you something.” The tone of his voice said it all and I braced myself for what he was about to say. I said, “sure go ahead, tell me.” He said –
“If you have a fear, you just need to walk through the fear”
I was stunned and speechless as if he intuitively read my mind or knew what I was thinking in that moment. I’m also equally shocked by the things that come out of his mouth. I think most parents can relate or feel the same way at times.
Fast forward to later that night after he got home from daycare. Brief backstory – this summer we have been working with him on the idea of learning to ride his bike with no training wheels. His reaction has always been no, not now or I don’t want to because I’m scared. So, later that night after he got home, my husband asked him again, “why don’t we try taking those training wheels off today?” He was met with a quivering voice, “okay… but I’m scared.” My husband said, “I promise I won’t let go until you are ready.” And with that, Cameron agreed to give it a try and we both stood there looking at each other realizing, this was it, we were about to teach our son how to ride a two wheeler bike! Before anyone could change their mind, I said, “okay, let’s grab your bike and helmet!”
As I stood there watching this unfold, it made think of a podcast I had recently listened to, The Dream Big Podcast with Bob Goff and Friends. It was Episode 343 with Tim Timmons talking about the presence of God and faithfulness. For those of you, where faith is not important – don’t click off the post just yet, hang with me for a second. There was one part of the podcast that struck me. It was the moment Tim asked himself what it would look like “practicing trusting versus practicing worrying.” I find myself, like many of us, getting caught up in the worries of life and it can be all consuming. What he said really resonated, and I started asking myself the question, what would it look like if I actually practiced trusting in moments that were hard, uncomfortable, or especially ones where I wanted to be in complete control? I sat for a bit thinking what does that actually mean, and what would it look like? What it meant was, I would have to learn to let go, ask for help and let faith lead. And, if I’m being honest it seemed like a hard thing to do.
“Practicing trusting versus practicing worrying”
As I was thinking about this, I realized I was watching this very concept unfold right in front of my eyes with my son Cameron. He made the choice to “walk (maybe ride) through the fear” that day – to step out in faith not knowing how it would go, and when he had some missteps along the way, like learning how to make a sharp turn or how to start back up again, he asked for help and kept going. I was so proud of him. More than anything, I was happy to see him conquer something hard and something he didn’t know he could actually do. It was such a beautiful reminder of what can happen when you decide to choose faith over fear.
-Natalie
(Looking for more life posts? Check out New Beginnings!)
Beautiful!! And way to go Cam! ❤️
Thank you Amy! 🙂