Have you ever really felt “nervousness” in the pit of your stomach, in the shaking and sweating of your hands, in the pounding of your heart? The concerns and “what ifs” and worries in your mind?
Oh it’s awful. It’s embarrassing. It’s horrible.
Nervousness is all too familiar to me. For most of my life I’ve ran from it, and I’ve avoided situations that make me feel it too much, at least whenever I could.
But over the last couple of years the Lord has been leading me into some situations that make me feel that “nervousness” and He’s been showing me a few things about what’s really going on.
The Lord is teaching me what to do with “nervousness” or “fear and anxiety” that tries to get in my way…instead of letting “nervousness” guide me away from what seems “dangerous or scary or embarrassing,” instead of doing everything I can to avoid things that make me “nervous,” He’s showing me how to face, and use the “nervousness” as an alert and “notification” to know that I need to push past those feelings into something that perhaps God is wanting to do on the other side — whether I can see it in the moment or not.
The Lord is teaching me to understand what is going on — the feelings of “nervousness” are an attempt to stop what God is wanting to do. It’s the opposite, a hindrance, an obstacle, a road block….
The symptoms I feel represent a challenge, they represent the enemy trying to hold me back from stepping into victory. But the Lord is renewing my mind and retraining my brain.
I’m reading a book called, “The Happy Intercessor” by Beni Johnson and I read a line or two yesterday that really stood out to me,
“Find out what God is wanting to do, which is the opposite of what the enemy is saying. Then pray what God wants. Make a choice not to partner with fear.”
I could apply this to feelings of nervousness…
“Find out what God is wanting to do, which is the opposite of what the enemy is saying (trying to make me feel, scare me away from doing). Then pray (do/say, to obey) what God wants. Make a choice not to partner with fear.”
Here is a challenge the Lord recently took me through…
“Lord, I submit to You, I bring my mind, my emotions, my heart, my will into submission to You. Forgive me for allowing fears and anxieties hold me back from what You want me to do. I repent of those ways. Help me, renew my mind, help me to see and hear and know You so clearly, that I’ll know exactly what I need to do. I trust You. Thank You for leading me to a higher place with You.”
*situation that causes heart racing, nervous shaking, sweating hands, thoughts of uncertainty and anxiety in my mind*
In this moment I recognize what is happening, and I see that I have 2 choices:
- I can dodge the physical and emotional feelings of nervousness and attempt to avoid the situation that causes them to happen. (I can run.)
- I can recognize these feelings of “nervousness/fear” and realize that perhaps these symptoms/feelings are an attempt to keep me from doing (or saying) something the Lord is leading me to –that maybe it could be the Lord wanting to lead me through the obstacle and into victory. I can choose to face and push past the feelings of nervousness in order to step into God’s will and “do that thing” and walk into victory with Him.
hmmm….
It’s a different way to think about “nervousness” isn’t it? It’s a different view, a different perspective.
The symptoms that come with nervousness and anxiety are awful, and embarrassing, wouldn’t it be wonderful if they would just go away?
But what if instead of running from “nervousness,” we face it…. and until it goes away, we use it…. and we walk into seeing what’s truly on the other side of “nervousness”… We’ll walk into seeing and experiencing what has been waiting there for us all along — victory.
Thank You for Your faithfulness, God. Thank You for the renewing of our minds, leading to the transforming of our lives. Victory is there for us, it’s right there on the other side of the nervousness, the anxiety, the fear — all we have to do is take Your hand and trust You. Thank You for leading us into truth –into victory with You.
“But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” – 1 Corinthians 15:57
-Heather ?