One Big Promise That Can Replace Doubt

My friend Kate moved from upstate New York to Key Largo to finish a college internship at the 5 star private club I worked at. We met when she began to date one of my best friends and my husband’s colleague. She is by far one of the most positive and happy people I have the pleasure of knowing. Her infectious smile and girlish laughter are so unique, you could not easily forget them. But Kate, like most women at the young age of 22, suffered from something we all do from time to time: doubt.

You see, at the end of her internship, Kate stood at a precipice. She could either go home to everything she was familiar with, all the memories, places, friends, and family that she had made hers over her 20 odd years in one place, or she could leap. Kate was so nervous that she would not be able to make it if she stayed where she was and continued on her current path, leading her further away from home. She feared letting people and certain things about her old life go. She hated the “moving on” aspect of life that was starting to make itself a reality in her world. She would voice to me all the time that she was so very nervous for my husband and I to move away because she didn’t want our friendships to change.

I’m almost eight years older than Kate, and my life has been nothing but change. She would ask me how in the world she was supposed to decide and how she could remain positive about the good things that were coming up in her life, when so much of what she loved she was leaving behind. Faith, I told her.

God has a way of using people to work in other people’s lives, of that much I am absolutely sure. I know that through all the twists and turns I made in my life, that He was actually planning all along for me to be there for Kate when she had these questions. It was so evident even, that a few mornings, I would feel the Lord tugging me to reach out to her.

The Lord is so kind to us, His children.

God has a way of using people to work in other people’s lives, of that much I am absolutely sure.

Part of my daily prayers for Kate were asking God to show me how to be her friend, how to help when she needed it, and ultimately that God would give us both wisdom.

I’ll never forget one morning when I felt the Lord prompting me to go to see her. Kate was struggling inwardly and was having a hard time finding a sounding board for her doubt and fear about all the changes in her life. I asked God, “What does she need to hear Lord? I’m your instrument, use me!”

So to Kate that morning, and for anyone else who is standing on the precipice of their own making, here is, in essence, what God said:

Sometimes, in our lives, we are “between people.” We are changing from the person we once were into the person we are becoming. I like to call these seasons of life. Unlike the actual weather seasons in a year, which are only four, these seasons can be many and have many different landscapes and new scenery we have yet to experience. Part of the loss we feel when we are leaving our old selves behind is that we know once we experience something new, we will never be the same person we were before. Whether it be innocence lost, the pain of heartbreak, or perhaps on the other token, the thrill and joy of a lifetime, these momentous changes shape the person we are becoming. For those who don’t have faith or are clinging to it as I have had to, any change can feel overwhelming and may cause us to doubt the person we will be when it’s all said and done. But God wants us to cling to Him and to His promises.

I remembered one of my favorite Bible verses from church growing up, one my mother would constantly whip out whenever I had doubt or fear about a repercussion of a decision I had made, or precipice I decided to leap off of, in faith.

“And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose” (Romans 8:28, NASB).

This is one of the most uplifting and motivating verses of Scripture that the Lord could give us. What an amazing promise to rest our weary and worrisome hearts in!

But God wants us to cling to Him and to His promises.

I told Kate this promise and explained how no matter what we decide, or what turn we decide to take on the road of life, as long as we are working towards following God, even mistakes can be turned into good for those of us who love and trust the Lord. Now of course, we must listen to God when He speaks to us, and sometimes make the tougher decision based on His leadership, but He will always work for the good of His children. He will turn each and every choice into something He can work for our benefit and prosperity, through His infinite mercy and grace. This faith, this knowledge, this promise is the killer of doubt.

Kate and I prayed that God would lead her decisions, not by her doubt, worry, or fear of losing her former self, but that He would shape and mold her into the new person she was becoming through faith.

Friends, if I can say anything about faith, it would be that our faith in God’s promise is to be used as a tool for God’s honor and for our good, through Christ the Lord. He equips us every day to make tough decisions, not ruled by insecurities and doubt, but with hope and fearlessness that God will give us just what we need to become the person He intended us to be.

AWOLNATION has a quote in one of their songs that just hits the nail on the head. “Never let your fear decide your fate.” Instead, give your faith to God, and let Him direct your path, sometimes right over the precipice you are standing on, into the new person you are destined to become.

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You’ll also like You Are Loved More Than You Know, Seeing the Good in a Mixed Season of Life, Building Faith: Growing in Your Relationship with God, and Bored? Stop Playing It Safe!
#gritandgracelife