4 Fear-Busting Tips to Take Your First Step

If taking the first step toward your dream has you feeling a little wobbly, try these four fear-busting tips. Baby steps are the cutest, aren’t they?  A little wobbly, fear mixed with pride and sprinkled with excitement. As parents and grandparents, grownups who have taken millions of steps, we can’t imagine what goes on in that little baby’s head.

What if I let go of this table and fall down?

Why is this going so slow?

I bet I look silly doing this.

Ok, maybe not that last one.  🙂

Those first steps are tiny and huge all at the same time. They signify growth, confidence and a new phase of life.  All of that from something that is second nature to the rest of us.  But sometimes, it takes a little push on that diapered hiney to get one foot to move in front of the other.

If you are about to take the first steps toward a passion that God has put on your heart, you may be feeling the same way …. a little wobby, fear mixed with pride and sprinkled with excitement.

There was a man in the Bible who also needed some help taking that first step.  A man sitting by a pool in Bethesda.

It’s never too late to take the first step.

 One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years.  John 5:5 (NIV)

Pool at Bethesda today (photo credit: Rachel Britton)

Thirty-eight years!!  That is a long time to be waiting to take a step. No matter how long you’ve been waiting to take your step, how long you’ve been sitting by the waters with a dream on your heart, it’s not too late.

God has not given up on you.  Don’t give up on yourself.  Your dream still matters.

Take your step at the right time

… whoever then first, after the stirring up of the water, stepped in was made well.  John 5:4 (NIV)

Everyone at Bethesda was waiting for the right time to take their step.  They watched expectantly for the waters to start stirring.  Maybe they shared tips with each other …. the quickest way to get in the pool, the spot where the stirring was the strongest.

As you prepare to take your first step, watch for the right time to take it … when the waters around your idea are stirring and interest is high.

Stop making excuses

When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, “Do you want to get well?” “Sir,” the invalid replied, “I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me.”  John 5:6-7 (NIV)

He may have been in the right place at the right time, but this man was not in the right frame of mind.  He was still finding reasons not to take that step.

What excuses are you making?  You don’t know how to take your step?  Someone else took a similar step before you?  None of that matters.

There is help available for whatever step you need to take.  And while your step may be similar to the one someone else has taken, yours will be different … uniquely yours.

Take the step in obedience

Then Jesus said to him, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.”  At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked. John 5:8-9 (NIV)

When Jesus tells you it is time to take the step, he’s not messing around. He means it is time to take the step at once.

When you take that step in obedience, Jesus will make things happen.  You aren’t depending on yourself, how fast you can get in the water or what is going to happen when you get there.  You are solely dependent on God and can trust him for results.

And whether those results from your first step are tiny or huge, that little sprinkle of excitement in your soul will give you the confidence you need to take the next step.


Tired from trying to share your God-inspired message while working your full time job?

Do you wonder if it’s worth it, or even possible, to build a ministry or business on the side?

I have good news for you. It is possible. It is worth it. You can do it.

That’s why I’m glad to share with you the four-part Honor System, to help you honor all the work God has given you to do. These are the hard-earned lessons I’ve taken away from chasing after my dreams and maintaining the career that supports my family.

Grab it here!

 

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