One thing you need to remove in order to live with confidence.
Sometime ago, a reader wrote:
Dear Janet,
I am so very grateful for having known about your site. Indeed, I would like to know what gives you confidence through each day.
Thank you. –Rhoda
My response:
Dear Rhoda,
Thanks for that interesting question. I’ve been asked all kinds of questions from How do you put on your make-up? to How do you write books? But no one has ever asked me what gives me confidence.
Let me tell you a story.
A few years ago, I was in California attending a writer’s conference. A friend jokingly asked, “Do you want to drive my car?”
“Yes,” I said with a daring look.
“Are you sure?”
“No,” I said, “The question is are YOU sure you want me to drive your car?”
She chuckled. “Why not?”
“Okay, here we go.”
Using my fingertips, I felt my way to the driver’s side and opened the door. With a few attempts, I found the ignition, inserted the key, started the engine, and changed gears. Her job was to give me verbal instructions.
Not having any sight at all, driving a car had remained but a dream.
So, there I was, a bit nervous, but with a grin I couldn’t hide. I gripped the steering wheel, pretending to be in control, I listened to my friend. “Keep it straight now, a little to the left, now to the right just a bit, not much.”
A tad risky, I admit. But oh, what fun! The reason I was able to drive her car was because she was with me seated to my right on the passenger’s seat. She became my eyes. I trusted in her ability to direct me, to tell me what to do, when to turn and when to slow down.
The road of life is the same.
We’re blind to what’s next. We can’t see tomorrow or what’s around the corner or what the future holds.
The uncertainty sparks worry. And worry brings on restlessness. And restlessness produces anxiety. Before we know it, we sit at the doctor’s offices learning we have ulcers.
King David probably had them too. And driving the vehicle of pride, he followed his own whims, desires and cravings. The not-so-pleasant details are related in 2 Samuel 11 and 12. In his feeble kind of wisdom he made crazy decisions. He failed. He sinned and brought heartache for all.
Sometimes we do the same. Like David we settled in the vehicle of pride, press the accelerator, zoom ahead only to find the cliff of disappointment. And once broken we shake our head, look at the mess and wonder what happened.
But although David made a mess too, he saw the sign, “Humility, next stop.” He pulled over. He shed that destructive pride.
David came to his knees, asking God for forgiveness. The Lord did.
Once forgiven, David welcomed a new kind of confidence and declared: “I will praise the LORD, who counsels me; even at night my heart instructs me. I have set the LORD always before me.
Because he is at my right hand, I will not be shaken” (Psalm 16:7-8).
He was confident because he trusted, not in his feelings and desires anymore, but in God’s power. He was confident not because he could take charge but because he let God direct his life.
If you’re reading this, you’re probably sighted. But, God, who knows what you don’t see, offers to sit by your side, infusing confidence for the road of life. To fill you with reassurance as you take sharp corners of heartache. To give you the wisdom to avoid cliffs of destruction and to whisper the reassurance to overcome barriers.
Let’s Pray
Father, may all traces of pride be erased from my heart, from my thoughts and my approach to life. I welcome the true confidence found In You and in Your direction. In Jesus name.
What do you have to remove in order to live confidently?
Janet
Did you know I wrote a book filled with words of encouragement, uplifting thoughts and illustrations of real-life triumph to empower you? Its title, Trials of Today, Treasures for Tomorrow: Overcoming Adversities in Life. You can get it HERE.
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