“Do not, therefore, fling away your fearless confidence, for it carries a great and glorious compensation of reward”. – Hebrews 10:35
Every time I talk about fear and shyness, I think back to my first encounter with business people at a gala dinner/ networking session. I was asked by a friend to tag along as she didn’t feel like going there alone. I cancelled all my plans for the day as I knew that going there will do me good, I will actually meet people who are in the same industry as I am and we will share ideas and I will learn a thing or two from them. I knew that God was opening a door of opportunity and I gladly took it with no questions asked. I got to network and ask strangers a few questions about what they do, what kind of business they’re into etc.
On the night, we all mingled outside before the actual event started. We later got into the atrium and were seated with all the good food they served us (3 course meal). We had the starters while the speakers were taking turns on stage to give speeches.
The devil was screaming in my ears, “What are you doing here? Why don’t you go back to where you come from? This gala is not for people like you. You’re not in business. Who will listen to you anyway? You are going to make a fool of yourself!” Well, I listened so much to what the devil was telling me that when it was time for me to introduce myself formally to the people I was seated with at the table, I got highly nervous as the palms of my hands started sweating; I was scared. I allowed the fearful thoughts to affect me negatively.
Think about how much calmer you can be by just stopping your negative thoughts before they affect you. If you believe you’re doing what God wants you to do, then just do it. Since then, I knew that I cannot let fear ruin things for me, I cannot let it take charge of me. Now, I just show up to all these events and introduce myself with confidence and trust God to do the rest.
Trust me, it gets easier when you start trusting God; there is no doubt about that.
I often think about how many people out there have so much to give, so much potential and gifts, but yet they let fear get in the way and end up not trying things out.
So my encouragement to you today is to learn to conquer your fear by trusting God and doing what He tells you to do, even if you have to do it over and over again before you succeed.
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