Just One Small Step Beyond FEAR

One more step and he may fall to his death.  But if he turns back now, the entire mission was for nothing.  What would you do?

In one of the final scenes of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Indiana Jones is standing at the edge of a cliff.  He's near the end of his journey and knows that he needs to keep going, but there's nowhere to go.  He closes his eyes, takes a deep breath and takes a step.  As quickly as his balance shifts forward, a step appears and he's on solid ground. In an instant, when he took that step of faith, his path forward became clear.  He continued his journey with that one small step beyond the fear.

In my experience, God often works this way.  We are brought to points in our lives where he says: "Ok, you claim to have faith.  You claim to believe in me.  Now prove it.  Take that step forward even though you don't know where it's leading you.  Trust me.  When you get there, I will be there and show you the next step after that.  Don't be afraid of the future.  I've been there, I'm going there, and I'm already there waiting for you."

I've spent many years of my life plagued by fear.  Fear of the future.  Fear of the unknown.  Every time I would come to a situation that caused me great fear, I would become paralyzed, and shrivel away in defeat.  And each time I backed down to fear, my world got a little smaller and my frustration a little greater.  My fears became a self-consuming spider web as it engulfed entire areas of my life and left me in a constant state of anxiety and panic. 

I've realized since those difficult days that the Good Life happens just one small step beyond fear.  Victory happens just one small step beyond fear.  Love happens just one small step beyond fear.  Freedom happens just one small step beyond fear.  When I come to those cliffs in my life where it seems the next step is more than I can handle and my mind tells me to turn back, I close my eyes and take a small step of faith.  Without exception, when I've taken that next step in faith, beyond the fear, the path becomes clear again. 

So what is the secret to move forward beyond the fear.  It just takes a tiny little seed of faith.  Real faith.  The kind of faith that leads you just one small step beyond fear.