How To Be Confident In The Face Of The Unknown

How to be Confident in the face of the unknown: 5 min read By Megan Rea

You need to know I had this post beautifully written. All done. Tied up in a nice bow. It was witty, fun and oozing with practicality.

Ready to be published…and then, I hit delete.

Scrapped the whole thing.

Why?

Because God has been writing something better in me over the past 2 months.

2 months? Yep, we’re taking pre-Corona.

 

In an effort to be both genuine and wise, I’ll simply say this: It’s been a hard season y’all.

I know. I busted out a “y’all.”

I’m not even southern. Please understand just how much this season has changed me.

I’m using slang pronouns.

Kidding aside, in addition to the state of our world, personally, we’ve found ourselves in one of the most trying seasons of our lives; dealing with the kind of spiritual and physical attacks that shake your confidence to its core. It’s in these times you’re reminded what’s actually a big deal and what’s merely an annoyance; what’s worth basing your faith on and what’s a shaky foundation.

When’s the last time you were there? THAT season. You know the one.

Rubber meets the road. Right now? I get that.

 

It’s in these times I’ve found we only have 2 options:

Place our confidence in humans, or place our confidence in God.

Today friend, whether you find yourself in a confidence shaking season or it’s simply a random Thursday in the future and the lying trifecta of fear, shame and comparison are trying to creep in and threaten your momentum, this is for you.

If you believe the Bible to be true (and even if you don’t, but you just trust me a whole lot 😉 ) we not only have the option to be confident, but we’re actually empowered to walk in that confidence every day.

It won’t come without effort, especially with media training us to be nervous & insecure. But becoming more confident in your future, in your decisions, in yourself, and in your God, is completely possible.

 

And it all starts from one little phrase:

 If you want to be more confident, you must live from your worth and not for your worth. 

You are unbelievably valuable. And not merely because I said so, but because Jesus paid dearly to show you every ounce of your worth.

So, how can this truth impact the way you live and in turn affect your confidence? How can you know if you’re living from your worth and not for your worth? 3 indicators.

 

You’ll live like you’re LOVED.

You’ll live like you’re FREE. 

You’ll live like you’re ON MISSION.

 

1. Live like you’re LOVED

“Mostly what God does is love you. Keep company with him and learn a life of love. Observe how Christ loved us. His love was not cautious but extravagant. He didn’t love in order to get something from us but to give everything of himself to us. Love like that.” (Eph 5:2, MSG)

Before you pour your morning coffee or walk into that situation keeping you up at night, remember this: You. Are. Extravagantly. Loved.

Not, like gushy-cheap-chocolate kind of loved, but sacrificially, laying it all on the line to the point of death, kind of loved.

Think of it, the God of all creation couldn’t bear the thought of spending eternity without you to the point that He offered what was most precious to Him for the chance you might love Him in return. He never wants you to know a day without Him. And because of Jesus, you never have to.

You’re that kind of loved friend. There is no romance greater than the one played out to rescue your soul. That love, that crazy extravagant love, that value which the God who created you places upon you, is the baseline for your confidence.

“Can’t Sleep, Can’t Eat, Reach for the Stars World Series Kind of Stuff.”

-It Takes Two (Mary Kate & Ashley Olson) and all my Millenials just swooned.

 

2. Live like you’re FREE

Here’s the great thing about Jesus’ sacrifice: It not only proved God’s love, it set you free.

 

What would living like you’re free look like for you today? 

If you could be free from worry, from judgment from yourself or from others? What would it feel like? How would you live this day differently if you knew you were free?

 

Good news. When we come to know Jesus, we are free! That kind of free. 

Loved as we are, with nothing to prove.

 

Some freedom we experience is instant, like when you set a bird free from a cage! And some freedom will be progressive, like when you’re in physical therapy learning how to walk again after an injury.

 

But either way, we get to live differently, yes even in the face of crisis, all because of Jesus’ act of sacrificial love on the cross.

Let me be clear, the Anointed One has set us free—not partially, but completely and wonderfully free! We must always cherish this truth and stubbornly refuse to go back into the bondage of our past.

(Gal 5:1, TPT) 

The world wants to tell you that once you do more, have a packed pantry, engage more followers on Instagram and teach yourself Latin during the great quaranteened lockdown, THEN you are worthy to be confident.

But check out where Romans says true freedom comes from:

 

Obsession with self in these matters is a dead end; attention to God leads us out into the open, into a spacious, free life. 

(Romans 8 MSG)

It doesn’t matter if we attain all the success, all the accolades, all the toilet paper the world has to offer. Without Jesus, even though we might find success, something will always be missing, we still won’t feel free. But when He is our focus, freedom grows.

 

3. Live like you’re on MISSION

Imagine with me if you will, a typical Monday morning. Don’t worry, they’ll be back. 😉 You’re walking out the door, coffee in hand, but this Monday is different. You’re not wishing it was still the weekend or worried about your meeting 4 hours from now. 

No, you’re approaching your day as if you were on a mission for and with the God of the universe? 

Did you just think of the Blues Brothers? I digress.

But truly, If you felt that kind of purpose, how would that change how you go about your day? How would that change how you live TODAY?

 

 So don’t you see that we don’t owe this old do-it-yourself life one red cent. There’s nothing in it for us, nothing at all. The best thing to do is give it a decent burial and get on with your new life. God’s Spirit beckons. There are things to do and places to go! This resurrection life you received from God is not a timid life. It’s adventurously expectant, greeting God with a childlike “What’s next, Papa?”

(Romans 8:12-17, MSG)

 

One day I was talking with a mentor of mine and he shared with me the simplest conversation he has with God every day and it changed my life.

He said every morning as my feet hit the floor, I wake up and say, “God what are you doing today that I can be a part of?”

That’s it. And I hope that one little statement can shift everything for you as it has in me.

 

It’s in Christ that we find out who we are and what we are living for. 

(Ephesians 1:11, MSG)

 

You are free to live differently friend. Differently, than the fear is telling you to live. Free to live FROM your worth instead of scrambling FOR your worth. 

When you know you’re loved, you’ll live like you’re free and the “mission” of your life will just naturally emerge from that loved, free place inside of you. You can make a major impact even inside your 4 walls today.

You have nothing to prove.

Be confident to live differently and, in turn, show others how to really live.

Until next time,

Meg

 

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