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Have you ever been going along in life, and seemingly out of nowhere, trouble comes knocking at your door? Maybe, you're in a season of life when all hell seems to be breaking loose? Or, you're out there trying to live your dream, yet it feels like you're on the extra giant struggle bus?

Suppose things are going great right now. Hooray for you! Yet, I'm sure you can imagine moments in your life when this wasn't the case.

My favorite author, Andy Andrews, says, "We're either in a crisis, heading for a crisis or coming out of a crisis."

Life is cycles–seasons. It can be a mixed bag. Or, like those jelly bellies, you never know what flavor you're going to get next. I'm hoping not to get the buttered popcorn one–not a fan. I landed on one of those in a movie theater once before I knew they existed. I was happily munching along–pear, pineapple, cherry…buttered popcorn. What is that?! Fruit and artificial butter flavor don't mix.

The beautiful news is no matter what you're going through, we don't have to lie down and just take it.

Our Heavenly Father has given us the power to experience our circumstances how we choose to experience them.

You heard me right!

We may not get to choose what happens to us, yet we do get to experience circumstances HOW we want to experience them.

Last time in part one of how to be strong and courageous even when all hell is breaking loose, I shared with you that we have two responses when troubles come our way. If you missed it, click here to catch up.

We learned that we could either continue in fear or respond in faith. We get to choose which.

When we continue in fear, we experience life through the lens of fear. We dwell on all the "what ifs."

Now fear's job is to try and keep us safe, yet if our fear rules us, if fear makes our choices for us, we'll never experience the life we're called to live.

When we continue in fear, we struggle to see the light at the end of the tunnel and find it difficult to believe God that something better is on its way. We'll never make our dream a reality. We'll also miss out on opportunities to grow and make a difference in this world.

So, how do we courageously respond in faith rather than continue in fear even when all hell is breaking loose in our lives?

Step One: Renew

We must first renew our minds to what God says about our situation.

This is the first step, the foundation, to becoming strong and courageous so you can respond in faith to whatever comes your way.

Romans 12:2 NASB
And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.

Now, I'm not just talking about memorizing scripture and spouting it when you get afraid. However, that's a valuable habit.

Remember Timothy? He was a young pastor in Ephesus during the early church days. Some theologians believe his church was over 30,000 people strong. Being a young pastor, he could easily get intimidated and fearful about what God's called him to do.

Paul had to remind Timothy not to be afraid about this.

2 Timothy 1:7 NKJV
For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.

Let me share this scripture in another translation.

2 Timothy 1:7 Mirror Translation
Become fully acquainted with his gift in you, there is nothing timid about it; the dynamic of a mind liberated in the spirit of love is fearless and unstoppable.

The Commentary by translator Francois du Toit: The word mind is sophronismos (soph-ron-is-mos) and it means a saved mind, a mind saved from tolerating inferior thoughts (Isa 55:8-11).

Wow, a mind saved from tolerating inferior thoughts!!

A renewed mind doesn't tolerate inferior thoughts.

When fear strikes, are your thoughts building you up, supporting you when you need it most and giving you strength and courage to accomplish your dreams?

Or are your thoughts tearing you down, creating paralysis of analysis or causing you to give up?

What thoughts are we tolerating in our lives?

The thoughts we're tolerating give fear power. It's refueling fear to take over our thought life and keep us stuck.

The story in our minds becomes the story in our lives.

Since my childhood, I had a recurring thought that said, "if you cause conflict, everyone you know and love will disconnect from you."

The story my mind created was conflict equaled disconnection. So, I thought if I could be the good little girl and never cause conflict, then everything would be alright.

But, it wasn't alright.

Fear of conflict causes me to stop showing up as myself. I hid my opinions, my needs, and I especially tried to hide my big, loud personality.

When I did show up as the real me, I got, "Heather, you're too loud, you're too much, you're too extra." So, what did I do? It's time to stuff Heather back down so we can avoid that conflict.

This story in my mind kept me bound up for years.

I was too afraid to step out into my dreams
I was worried about what people thought of me
I was scared of standing out in the crowd
I was petrified I wasn't enough

Because of this, I created a story that said people in leadership don't see my gifts, so I'll remain invisible the rest of my life. I resolved that I must not have the right personality to be successful like them.

But, hey, at least I wasn't causing any conflict, right?…insert sarcastic laugh here.

This thinking pattern caused so much inner conflict that it disconnected me from those in leadership. So, the story in my mind became the story in my life–conflict equaled disconnection.

What story are you telling yourself?
How do you see the world?
What are the inferior thoughts you're tolerating?

We must renew our minds–change our thought patterns. Create a new life-giving story.

Let the revelation of who your Heavenly Father says you are reshape your thoughts.

When you renew your thoughts, you begin to change your story.
When your story changes, you can boldly show up fully yourself.
When you show up fully yourself, you can now live fearlessly free to fulfill your purpose.
Bonus, you can enjoy where you're at, no matter what you're going through, on the way to where you're going.

Now renewing our thoughts is a continual process and it's just the first step you need to learn to respond in faith. It's also not a one-and-done deal. Know that you must never give up, never surrender.

So, next time I'm going to share with you step two so you can continue to courageously respond in faith when troubles come, and all hell seems to be breaking loose.

Until Next Time, Live Fearlessly Free

Discussion

What’s the story in your mind that you’d like to renew. Please share with us in the comments below. As humans, knowing we’re not alone empowers us to keep going. So you’re helping others to grow as well.

The new story I’m renewing my mind to is that I have just the right personality to do this thing God has called me to do.

Resources

Blog Posts:

How To Be Strong And Courageous When All Hell Is Breaking Loose In Your Life Part 1

How To Believe The Truth About Who You Really Are

How To Live A Life Of Joy Using These Quick And Dirty Tips - Tip 1

*Book links are an amazon affiliate link. If you purchase a book through this link, I will receive a small commission.

Podcast-Blog

How To Be Strong And Courageous When All Hell Is Breaking Loose In Your Life Part 2 - RENEW