Trust vs Confirmation

I love Instagram. It is easily my favorite social media platform. I get to follow amazing people, some for entertainment purposes, others mostly to learn and grow from. One person, in particular, whose posts I always look forward to is Marshawn Evans Daniels. She is the author of my favorite book Believe Bigger, which is about embracing disruption. A couple of days ago Marshawn held an IG Live to answer a question from a follower about a passage in her book Believe Bigger and Marshawn’s answer led me to write this post.

Safety Steps vs Faith Steps was the topic of the IG Live. The question was, “From your experience do you believe God moves more on our faith steps or his directions? Marshawn answered by saying, ” God gives us the desires of our hearts. A lot of the desires we have are from him. God speaks and it is clear.” She goes on to say that although God may give the green light to move forward, the specific details on how to do so may not be clear. I find that to be true in my life. I would have an idea to do something, pray about it, and wait to hear from God. I would then hear from God to move forward but not how to move forward. Because I’m the type of person that needs to know every detail before taking the first step and as a result, I end up doing nothing. Out of fear of taking the wrong step or doing the wrong thing, I begin to look for confirmation to do what God has already told me to do. SMH. Seeking confirmation, as I have learned, allows me to remain stagnant and by remaining stagnant I remain safe because there is no risk of failure involved.

“Seeking confirmation is not something God wants us to do but something we have been taught to do,” said Marshawn. Confirmation is a man-made idea and not a God-given directive. Wait on the Lord is what some Christians like to say. Countless times I’ve used “waiting on the Lord” as a crutch. “I’m waiting to hear from the Lord!,” is what I like to say as a way to justify procrastination or straight-up laziness. Or I would wait around to receive a confirmation outside of what God has already confirmed. I love a question Marshawn posed during her IG Live, “Confirmations are not bad but are they necessary?” Whew! Hit me like a ton of bricks. Are confirmations necessary? No, they are not. For me, they are a method the enemy uses to keep me out of alignment with God’s purpose. Period. During my time with Marshawn, I also learned that confirmations, be it from man, signs, wonders, etc., are fear-based and can open the flood gates for unnecessary opinions and misdirection from people who are ignorant of God’s plans and provisions for your life to flow in.

I’ve had so many ideas and tabled them. I didn’t know it at the time but fear was in the driver’s seat, not me. “What if no one reads it or buys it?” I was ultimately asking “What if I fail?” What if I do all the hard work and fail? Not recognizing that merely writing the blog post or creating the thing is a success in itself!!! The fact that the idea went from a thought in my mind and materialized as a blog post or a product was not only an act of obedience but also an act of self-love and courage. Marshawn also spoke on courage, stating, “Courage and curiosity shift us into our destiny.” Every single thing God asks us to do (after praying for direction) takes trust and courage to see through. Constantly looking for confirmation outside of God is an act of distrust and fear.

Going forward I know that failure is the predecessor of success. There is no way around it and I should never allow it to debilitate me. The interesting part is that I know better!!! I know that failure is inevitable (and no failure lacks a lesson) but fear is another beast I must learn to tackle. I am challenging myself to recognize and acknowledge fear in a given situation and decide to move forward courageously trusting that God will see me through. I love how God will use someone to get a message across so that it lands effectively and instantly transforms your life. Marshawn, if you’re reading this…thank you!

XOXO,

S.

“Your word is a lamp at my feet, a light on my path.” Psalm 119:105