You’ve probably heard me say that you can have courage or you can have comfort but oftentimes you cannot have both – and boy am I realizing how true (and even scary) that can be.
When I started this journey of pursuing my dreams years ago, I never knew that it would cost me as much as it has. Like most of us, I believed that my journey would be easy, breezy and that I would always get what I wanted and desired. If you’ve been on your journey of success for some time now, then you may have even thought like that before and quickly have realized that that is far from truth.
Our journey of success will be met with opposition, fears, challenges and uncomfortable seasons – all of which we may not have expected. But all of these are an essential part of your journey because they are your training grounds to empower you to fully fulfill your purpose and to prepare you for the next season in your life. There is never going to be a point in this life where you “arrive,” you are always going to have to grow in your character, mind and capacity until the day that you breathe your last breath.
What I am learning is that sometimes you have to choose to be courageous and deny yourself of the comfort that you are used to in order to really experience your greatest potential and what God has for you. I believe that there are circumstances in which we may be stripped of things that we find our comfort in so that God can come in and show us to find our comfort, trust, identity, acceptance, approval and sense of belonging in Him and Him alone.
We give people, job titles, relationships, financial security and other fickle matters too much power over us to the point where they may be holding us captive from experiencing the life of victory that we yearn for. Sometimes we simply have to let go of what is familiar or comfortable and choose courage to walk through a season where our whole trust is in God to lead and guide us through to our victory.
But there is another player who will keep us in that place of comfort and his name is fear. Fear is a culprit that will plague our thoughts of the future and the unknown. Fear will tell you that you are crazy, that you could never go through life without (insert the person, job, relationship, financial status or whatever has been holding you back here). As a result you can become paralyzed by that fear and you choose to remain in a place that you know you should be courageously walking away from and trusting that God will take care of you and all of your needs. Those needs may be financial, emotional or physical and you have to learn that you can trust Him for all of those needs.
God LOVES to be trusted and when He knows that He is, that is when He shows up and shows out!
In order to experience God’s best for you; you may have to go through some seasons that are uncomfortable. Just because something you are going through is uncomfortable does not mean that it is not best for you. What you believe is a choice. So you can choose to believe that choosing courage over comfort will lead you into your victory or you can choose to believe the fears that are lying to you.
I never teach from something that I have not experienced, that is not my style so if I am telling you this, it’s because something in my heart is guiding me to empower you through this and maybe even be the message that you have been waiting to hear.
Therefore, I want you to think about it. Is there something comfortable or familiar in your life that you have to let go of? Is there a fear that has been holding you back from experiencing your true destiny? Is there something that you have to maybe give of yourself as a sacrifice for someone else’s need? Is there someone that you have to forgive? Is there a habit you need to break?
If anything comes to your mind then I want you to boldly choose courage over comfort. Of course it will not be easy and those lying thoughts will creep back in but you have to believe that this “uncomfortable thing” that you are doing is what is best for you and your destiny. When those thoughts come to you then speak out loud to those thoughts and say this “I will not fear because God is with me, I will not believe those lies and I will focus on thoughts that are good, praiseworthy and true.”
As a continuation of facing your fears, I will be hosting a FREE teleclass on Facing Your Fears & Defeating Your Giants on Wed. July 22nd at 8pm ET. If you want to learn more about the class or to register then check it out here.
Thank you for allowing me to speak life over you, remember that you are victorious, courageous, bold and powerful!
XOXO,
Maria I. Melendez
@embraceherlegacy
