God’s PEACE comes with FAITH!

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Someone close to me once said “Next time Chanel, just have more faith”. Those words stung and stuck with me as I realised, I had allowed the fear of the future to affect many areas of my life. It wasn’t that I didn’t have faith, I did. But I was allowing my fears to be greater than my faith.

I couldn’t peacefully enjoy the process by letting go, trusting God and having faith all things would work out for my good because, my mind would focus on ‘what about if [insert worst possible outcome]...’. I used to feel so anxious. I thought it was a sign that the situation I was in or the decision I was about to make was the wrong one, but I’ve realised that wasn’t the case at all. It was all FEAR!

Have you ever felt an overwhelming sense of anxiety, confusion, doubt or overthinking whenever you have a big decision to make, things seem too good to be true, you’re about to do something out of your comfort zone?

Some may call it a gut feeling, intuition or a warning sign. But, a gut feeling doesn’t bring confusion. Fear does! A gut feeling doesn’t consistently focus on the worst possible outcome. Fear does! A gut feeling doesn’t overthink things. Fear does! A gut feeling doesn’t feel scary. Fear does! A gut feeling is a clear, instinctive, small still voice.

On the other hand, fear is uncomfortable and leads to overthinking, anxious thoughts, panic, worry, doubt and confusion.
Fear leads to negative outcomes. Faith leads to positive outcomes.
Often, we are told, if you don’t have peace about it, then it’s a sign something is wrong. This isn’t always true. Lack of peace doesn’t always indicate that something is wrong or it’s not God’s will for you. Lack of peace can highlight the area you trust God least. Sometimes, it’s God alerting you to the fact that you’re allowing fear to consume you. Sometimes, the feeling of the fear of the unknown can represent itself as “gut feeling” but, it’s actually not a warning that the decision or situation is wrong. God hasn’t given us a spirit of fear (2 Timothy 1:7) so that feeling is uncomfortable because it doesn’t belong!
You want God’s peace? Have FAITH!
The words “Next time Chanel, just have more faith”, missed opportunities, and then, my job promotion happening one year earlier than expected, was the final wakeup call I needed to overcome my fears and anxious thoughts. I say final wakeup call because, there was a small still voice called faith trying to calm my thoughts, but it was being drowned by my anxious thoughts.
Reflecting on ALLLLLLL the other past situations God has come through for me, why was I still so anxious? My fears and anxiety stemmed from my wavering of faith, misunderstanding of God’s love, insecurities and allowing others to project their opinions and plant negative seeds (we’ll talk about this in another post).
I had enough of allowing fear to steal my peace and causing overthinking, confusion, anxiety and staying within my comfort zone. It affected so many areas of my life, my relationship, my confidence, my decision making, my emotions... Enough was enough!
To begin my journey from fear to peace, I decided to go to therapy, consume a lot of faith-based content, intentionally pray & fast, journal and open up to close family/friends.
To experience change, you must put what you’ve learnt into practice. So that’s exactly what I did during this season of my life. “No challenge, no change” right?

On the journey from fear to peace, the vehicle is FAITH!
My Prayer: “God, I’m going to move forward in faith, no overthinking, if I’m going the wrong way, block it and re-direct me. Psalm 32:8”
On this journey, I intentionally pushed by myself out of my comfort zone by;
1. Buying a house. Required me to rely on God to provide and trust that he is my source of security
2. Sky diving. Trusting that God holds me in the palm of his hands and is in control of my life
3. Solo Trip. Becoming comfortable with myself, building my confidence and spending intimate time with God
I began to experience the unexplainable peace I had heard about but, had never experienced myself. The difference was, I was focused on faith!
These were one of the biggest decisions/risks, yet, I had internal peace. Of course, my logical/anxious mind would bring up doubts but, I noticed internally there was a stillness which made it easier to re-focus on faith over fear.

My experience has taught me that;
• The absence of peace does not always indicate that the situation or decision is the wrong one, sometimes, it indicates the area you have least faith
• Faith doesn’t require logic, in fact, it’s often the opposite of logic. It requires trusting God can do what seems impossible, unlikely or too big to overcome
• Pray and ask God for discernment and move forward in faith. IF you’re going down the wrong path, God will surely block and redirect you

In the past, I would pray for God to give me peace about certain situations but, I’d still feel anxious. Why? Because, I’d still focus on my fears, my anxious thoughts, my what about ifs…
When I changed my approach, and focused on my faith in God to work all things out for my good, the peace came!
This journey taught me that, God’s peace comes with faith!

Written by Chanel, 2022.

Suggested links that helped me on my journey: