I'm your host, Amy Dardis. And in today's episode, we are continuing on in our series of Idols in Entrepreneurship and Business. And today we're diving into the idol of fear. So just a quick recap: an idol is an object or a concept that we give a higher priority than God. It's anything we rely on for blessing, help, or guidance instead of God. It's anything that consumes our heart, our thoughts, or our devotion more than God. And it's any good thing, or in today's case, definitely a bad thing, that we elevate to a position where we give it more power, more prominence, more influence in our life over God. And the question ends up being, where's our hope? Is our hope in God? Or when it comes to fear, the question is, have we lost our hope? Are we allowing fear and doubt to rule our hearts and minds? And it's because life comes at us and the storms come at us and the stress comes at us and the bills and the problems and the obstacles, and if relying on our own strength and trying to make things happen, and trying to control how things happen, and making things work the way we think they should work, or the way we want to work, or just going through a really uncomfortable, difficult season where God is trying to grow us, He is trying to stretch us and develop us, but it's dark, it's lonely, it's isolating, it's filled with looking at yourself in the mirror and seeing all of these things in your heart and really being wrecked by it, really being devastated by just the sin in your life or the all the messes and all the mistakes, and just realizing just like how good enough you aren't. You're not, you're not enough, you don't have what it takes, and then that feeling, that mindset, it can start to take over and it can start to grip you, body and soul, and it be it can become consuming and it can become paralyzing. And then we sink into this hole, and it's hard to imagine ever getting out of it. It's hard to imagine things being different or better or good because it's just this heavy darkness, it's this heavy cloud that surrounds us and starts to fill us, and we start to lose our hope. We start to believe the lies of the enemy. And we see the storm and we see the waves, and instead of getting out of the boat when God asks us to, we we grip to it and we go down with the ship. We go down in the storm because it's just it's too hard to believe. It's too hard to believe that it could be different or that God's gonna come through. And man, that is that's something that I've wrestled with, I think my entire life, but definitely my entire journey as an entrepreneur in such difficult seasons, and and there's been different sources of fear, you know, there was starting and stopping so many different times because I was afraid, like afraid of failing, afraid that if I gave it all, if I poured my heart and soul into something, if I was truly authentic, then it wasn't gonna be enough that I was gonna be rejected. Honestly, that that fear grips me every day, every time I turn this podcast on. It it is right there. And the anxiety wells up, and it's just like I'm terrified of the rejection. I'm terrified that I'm gonna give it everything I have, and it's it's not gonna be enough. And then there's the fear of judgment, you know, that I'm gonna put it out there, and not only am I gonna get rejected, but it's like I'm gonna get laughed at and shot down, and people are gonna be like, what are you talking about? Or this doesn't make sense, or you just live in la la land, like all of the all of the critic critics, or you know, I've seen comments on YouTube videos like, oh, you that was a lot of talking to say nothing, you know. There, there is this, there is this criticism out there, there is this negativity out there. There are people who are gonna hear this and think those things. They are gonna judge me. And there is a fear of mine in that that is like it oh, it has held me back. Honestly, it is kept me from showing up authentically, it has kept me from saying the things I want the way I want to say it. There's the fear that I'm not qualified, that I'm just I'm I don't have the experience or the credibility to to talk about these things or or to be listened to, you know, and it no matter how hard I try, like I'm just I'm never gonna be smart enough, I'm never gonna be talented enough, I'm never gonna be good enough or qualified enough to make it happen. And then there's that, like the fear of actual success. Like there's the fear that it does work and that I'm not worthy. Like I'm not, I don't deserve it, that I am not gonna be able to handle it, that it's gonna be too much for me, that it's gonna eat at my pride or my selfish ambition is gonna rear its ugly head and and I'm gonna destruct, I'm gonna sabotage, I'm gonna, it's gonna fall apart from the inside out, and it's gonna be because of me, because of my sinful nature, because of my ability to just to not be good enough. Like, what if I don't abide in him? What if I veer off? What if I get distracted? What if I become selfish and and I hurt people and I mess it up? Like, you know, I have that fear. Or there's the fear that God won't provide that that no matter how much I want him to, that no matter how much I want him to open doors, there's always this fear that's like, what if he doesn't? What if he doesn't open those doors? What if he doesn't make a way? What if he doesn't part the Red Sea? You know, it's like when we stand there and have to make that decision to step out in faith, there is this voice that says, What if I fall and he doesn't catch me? And that's the enemy, that's our sinful nature, that's our human doubt creeping in. And we have a choice to decide whether or not we're gonna listen to those thoughts or we're gonna take those thoughts captive, like recognizing what is the truth, where is our source of truth? And it's like, okay, well, for me, I believe like the source of truth is the Bible. I believe that I can trust in his word. I believe that I can stand on the promises of God. I believe I can stand on scripture and say, this is truth, like everything else in the world. Like my thoughts are not true, my feelings are not true. They are fallible, like they are inconsistent. Like I cannot trust myself. And sometimes that terrifies me because I've been so flaky before, I've been so inconsistent before. I've thought one thing one day, and I was like gung home, gonna do this. And then two weeks later, I'm like, nope, not doing that. I had that wrong. I'm gonna do this thing. And then two weeks later, oh, I'm gonna do this thing. And it's like that that terrifies me that I can make such flaky, flighty decisions about things, thinking that that's the right path to go down, and then feeling like I'm confident, feeling like I'm sure, only to second guess myself and doubt myself later. And so I've come to know this about myself that I just I can't be trusted. Like I can't trust what I think or my feelings, because there are days when I wake up and I feel great and I feel like empowered and I feel motivated and I feel positive and I feel peaceful and I feel all these things. And then there are days when I wake up and I feel like the weight of the world is on my chest and I can't breathe. And I'm like, nothing's gonna work out. This, there's no way that this is gonna work out. No one's gonna want this, no one's gonna listen, no one's gonna, you know, I'm no one's gonna want what I have to offer, you know, all and then those thoughts start to roll around in my head. And I have to choose in that moment to recognize what's happening. I have to choose in that moment to be aware of like, okay, what is going on right now? Like, okay, I'm feeling these things, I am thinking these thoughts. And whoa, that's gonna wreck me faster than anything else. And I have to take those thoughts captive. Like they are rebellious thoughts. Like, I have to take them captive and make them obedient to Christ. And that's like I have to force myself to do that and to be like, okay, what does God's word say? Like, what is God's word? He says, lean not on your own understanding. Trust, trust the Lord with all your heart, you know, in all your ways, acknowledge him, and he'll show you what path to take. And we, you know, God, you know, will help us like soar high, like on wings like eagles. Like he'll he'll walk with us, like I will fear no evil. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, like I will fear no evil, you know, and it's like having to meditate on his word, having to know what his word is, having to be in the word to get through this season, to get through those, those really hard days, and to recognize like what I'm allowing into my mind, what I'm allowing to permeate there, and what I need to get out. You know, the Bible also says, like, you know, think about whatever is good, whatever is true, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable. Like, think about these things, you know, don't allow the the worries and the stresses of this world. Like the Bible says, do not worry. Like don't worry about tomorrow. Don't worry about what you're gonna eat or drink or wear. And so it's like I have to like remind myself of these things in these moments and just go back to this is what true is. And it's easy to get caught up in those things, especially when you're in a season where when you look around in your life, it's not pretty. Like I remember back in, I think it was like 2015 or 2016, I went to a women's Christmas dinner, and I was in like a super hard season of my life. I'm pretty sure my mother-in-law like paid for my ticket, and I was there and there was like a worship song going on, and I saw no way out. Like I saw no future, no path, no hope. Like, this is when like my life was a wreck. Like my husband and I were not not on the same page, not doing well, like our business was not okay. I was angry and bitter and you know, just struggling in every area of my life. And I didn't know the first thing about business. I didn't know the first thing about myself. Like I I just was so lost and so frustrated and so angry, and I felt so stuck, and I had no answers. And like if you just looked at my life, like it was just, you know, there was the the overdrawn accounts, and there was just the lack of communication or confidence or vision or direction, and during this song, I feel like this was like one of the first times I like maybe really heard God like speak to me. Like I'm sure he spoke to me before, but I just I just remember that being like a big thing where during this song that was playing, I just remembering, I was remembering Hebrews 11, 1. And it was now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about we assurance about what we do not see. And it was almost like in that moment, God was like, that's what faith is. Like, I am telling you to be confident in what you hope for. I am giving you this promise, this word that things are going to change, that your life will not always look like this, that there is something to hope for, and that you can be confident, you can have assurance about what you do not see. And so this song is playing, and I have no idea what the song was at the time, but it just over and over and over in my head, I was like crying out this scripture. Like, faith is the confidence in what we hope for, it is assurance about what we do not see. And I was like, I don't see it, God, I don't see it, God, I don't see it. But you're telling me that there's there's something that I'm gonna see in the future, that it's gonna come to pass, that it's gonna get better, that it's not always gonna look like this. And at that time in my life and in my walk with God, like I hadn't I didn't have all these examples or stories or this relationship with him to be able to point back to his faithfulness, and not that he hadn't been, but I just I didn't I didn't know a lot of scripture at that time. I didn't know about God's character, I hadn't really put myself in situations where I got to see the faithfulness of God, you know, nor did I really have the perspective or awareness to think about it like that. Like I was just so early on in my walk with God, even though I'd been raised in the church, I feel like I didn't really start to know God until I was in my early 20s, until I became a mom and really started my own life and and really started reading the word of God for myself. And that just drastically changed my life. So here I was like learning scripture, and this this scripture, I felt like just God just like planted that scripture my heart in that definitely in that season, because up until then, like that season had been a season of silence. Like I just I felt like I had not heard anything from God. I felt like he was not talking to me or speaking to me or giving me any direction. And so when I heard this, it was just like, wow, that's that's not me. Like, I feel like that's a word, I feel like that's a promise that he'd given me, which he does. He gives all of us this promise in his word in the Bible, and and it's something we can stand on, it's something we can claim, it's something we can hold on to because his word does not return void, like it is there's power in it. And so I'm like saying this over and over and over in my mind, and that that scripture carried me through. Like it, it's it gave me this anchor, like it gave me this peace, this hope that was like, I realize I don't see anything good in my life anymore, but like at this point, I know God, God told me, He gave me this promise, he gave me this peace that I'm going to see change. I am going to see this these circumstances change. And they they did, you know, in a season of just tremendous darkness and isolation and anger and bitterness and disconnect and brokenness and just financial like distress, like in this season that was so freaking ugly, you know. God he he poured into it and he he changed it, like not all at once, you know. It's like, but it started with just like abiding in him. It started with just like sinking my roots down into him and like growing in him and letting him change my heart, letting him renew my mind, writing scripture on my heart, like meditating on it. And then little by little by little, every area of my life started to change. Like my family started to change, my marriage started to change, my business started to change, like my own sense of purpose and worth and identity started to change because I started to find myself in him. And it changed how I saw myself and how I saw God. It changed everything and it it changed how I showed up and it changed how I engaged. And again, we're talking about years here of little changes over time, not like one big significant moment. I mean, there have been a couple very significant moments in my life, but for the most part, change and growth is subtle and it's slow, and it's just the way that a plant grows, you know, it's like a seed is planted. And before we ever see the plant come up out of the ground, the roots start to grow. But the roots are growing underground, and we can't see what's happening, but that those roots are incredibly important, and how they're growing and strengthening, like and spreading out into the ground and like getting deeper. And then we start to see it sprout up out of the ground, and then it gets bigger and bigger, and then it starts to produce fruit. So it's like it's this very slow, gradual process that we often like want it to just be an overnight thing, like, oh boom, like God talked to me, He gave me this word, and then boom, it's different, and it's that's not how it works most of the time. And so as I've walked with God and and gone through different seasons, like I go back to this season so much because it was so fundamental in shaping my faith and in shaping my relationship with God and and really teaching me about what faith is, about it's not just believing that God exists, not just believing that he died for my sins, but it's it's believing that he makes a way, it's believing that he walks with me through it all. It's believing that he has the power to heal, that he has the power to save, that he has the power to provide, that he has the power to just love and give grace and mercy, and that he's there in my life, in my relationships, in my family, in my home, in my business, and that he's orchestrating all of these things together, and it's beyond what I can imagine, it is beyond what I can comprehend, and he delights even in the littlest things, and so it's learning to like go to him for everything, it's learning to trust him and to not let the sin and the darkness and the the brokenness of this world steal me away from that or distract me away from that, and that's exactly what's happening. You know, it's like we're always at spiritual warfare, the enemy is always coming to steal, kill, and destroy. And he's coming to steal our identity, he's coming to steal our purpose, he's coming to steal our hope. And so it's always comes back to this of where is my hope? And am I am I even hoping in something and not getting to a point where I've allowed the lies, I've allowed the darkness, I've allowed just the pain and the brokenness to wipe it out, to snuff it out. You know, it's fanning that flame, it's keeping it alive, it's you know, putting my hope in Jesus. And then even in this past year, going through just an once again, just an incredibly difficult season, you know, and and really being challenged in in my faith and in God's provision and in his grace, you know, and I can go back to these other stories, I can go back to the these other times where I'm like, man, I didn't see it then. I didn't see what you were doing then, but you saw me through, and I can see now, I can see all of the ways that these different pieces worked out and worked together, and I'm amazed by it. Like it is truly just miraculous the way that you've worked in my life, the way that you've provided. And so I know that whatever you're doing now makes is is going to make sense. It doesn't, it doesn't make sense right now. I I but I know that it's going to, but even even though I know that, still walking through a season where we don't see it, walking through a season where you look around and you're like you see just uh you see brokenness and you see despair and you see depression and you see anxiety and you see you know not enough money in the bank and the bills piling up, and it's like you see all these things and you're wondering, like, God are you gonna come through? Like, can I trust you to come through? And it's easy to just kind of start to start to lose that faith. And you know, I remember having uh definitely like days this past year where I woke up and I was just like, I this is I it's so heavy. I I I just feel numb and I feel lost and I honestly have no idea what to do next. And even then, God saw me through. And even then, you know, he just it was one day at a time. It honestly, it's it was just one day at a time, and even now it is one day at a time. It's waking up and saying, like, give us this, give us this day my daily bread. Like, help me to be productive, intentional, purposeful, peaceful, joyful today. Help me to abide in you today, like making sure I'm reading the Bible today, making sure I'm praying today, and just not thinking about tomorrow, not thinking about how things work out or don't work out or or play together because I know I can't predict it. Because I again think about all the other times in my life where things have happened that I never would have predicted. I never would have guessed that I was gonna get uprooted and move my family to Alaska in two weeks. We never, ever, ever for a second thought about leaving Montana. Never. We never talked about wanting to move anywhere else. My husband has been visiting Alaska for the past six years, and never once did he come back and say, Yeah, I think someday I want to move there. I have asked him, Hey, would you ever want to move there? And he has told me no. And so here, here was this thing where this thought, this seed was planted that never even existed before. And then two weeks later, we're in a brand new place and our whole life is turned upside down. Never saw that coming. You know, and I even being an entrepreneur, like I never grew up thinking I wanted to be an entrepreneur ever. I never saw my life playing out this way, which is great in so many ways. Because my plan, oh man, if I had gone down some of the paths that I thought were gonna happen, yikes, like that, just so glad, so glad that uh that didn't happen. But it's just this hope being a daily battle and this this thing, like being like this confidence that that what we hope for will happen, and like that like being assured of like what we do not see. And it's not even necessarily knowing what we're going to see, it's not even like I don't know what this looks like, I don't know what I'm waiting to have happen. I just know that like God's got me. And even though I can be afraid of failing, of judgment, of not being qualified, of or of succeeding and and messing it up horribly, or being afraid that God won't provide, you know, it's like all of these fears, I face them daily, like they don't go away. But it's just taking it one thought at a time, one moment at a time. And we do have to like have self-control over our mind, you know. And you know, the Bible talks about like we've been given. Sorry, I have to actually look it up because I don't want to quote this wrong. Yeah, so 2 Timothy says, For God has not given us a sphere of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline. So it's like, okay, God doesn't give us a spirit of fear. You know, we we have his spirit in us, and it is filled with power, love, and self-discipline. So there is a discipline there to control my mind, to control my thoughts, to resist the devil, to use the full armor of God, to be in the word, to you know, be praying like actively, not reactively, but proactively, to have faith, to be confident in what he can do. And it's this this spirit of power. You know, it's like the same spirit that raised Jesus from the dead lives in us. He lives in us. He lives in me. He's alive. Like that is real power at work in our life. Beyond what we can really even comprehend how powerful it is. And so it's like, I'm not gonna give in to this fear. I'm not gonna give in to this doubt. And I need the power of God to help me fight that battle. But it's like it's it's a an act of it's an act of war. It's an act of faith. It's like it's a battle cry to say, I will put my hope in God. I will not allow my hope to be taken away from me. I will not allow, you know, I'm gonna put my hope in God, not in this world, not in my business, not in my ambition, not in my qualifications, because I will fall short. I do fall short. I don't have what it takes. And all of these difficult seasons have taught me that, that I don't have what it takes. Like they they bring me face to face with my limits every time. And every time I fail, every time I fall short, which just brings me back to this point of I need Jesus more than anything. I need God's grace and power in my life to make this work, to love people, to open doors, to be an open vessel that God works in and through. Like I need him more than anything. So I'm gonna put my hope in him and I'm gonna just like sprawl myself out on the ground each and every day and say, God, like work through me. Like, don't let me get in the way. Don't let my fear get in the way. Don't let the enemy get in the way. Just do what only you can do. And that ends up being like just I think it's the fight for everything. And it's it's that's how we keep God first, you know. It's like that's how we have to like fight all of these these battles and these idols. And really that is gonna wrap up this series on idols, you know, and it's not because I like don't have any other ones, it's just when I sat down and really prayed about this series and these idols, those were the ones that God put on my heart to share. But it's just a reminder, anything can become an idol, anything that we give power, prominence, or influence over God in our life. And it's not something that we just figure out one time and then we're good to go. Like it is something where every day we have to be aware. Like we can't allow the enemy to distract us because that's what he's gonna do. It's just it's just gonna be a slow distraction, just a little bit here, a little bit there. And more often than not, I think idols he uses things that are good, like things that just that are not bad in and of themselves. So it's easy to kind of justify it, it's easy to kind of like slide down this slope. But you know, we have to like bring our attention back to it to be like, how much power, influence, and prominence am I giving this in my life? Even if it's something that it's just your own mind, it's just your own thoughts, it's just your own fear. Like, how much, how much control are you letting that have over your life more than what the truth says, more than what the truth leads us into? And just fighting every day to like make God first, to put him first, to love him with all of our heart, with all of our soul, with all of our mind, with all of our strength, and to use that love and that focus on him to have the power and the love to be able to love other people's in this life and through our business and through our families and through how we show up and how we serve and our giftings, and you know, that's what we're here on earth to do. That's what he's called us to do. And, you know, I'm so blessed that we get to do that through an avenue of business. And some of us are entrepreneurs and leaders, but some of them are us are employees at work, and it's like there is no, there is no greater calling one or the other. Like it doesn't matter. It's just we've all been given purpose. We have all been given gifts. We are all charged to like lead a life worthy of our calling and that we are called by God. Like no matter our position, no matter our status, no matter our title, we are all called by God. We all have unique gifting, we all have you know a plan and a purpose for our life. It but it always starts with him. Like he has to be in the center of it all. So that wraps up our series and this episode. So, as always, you can learn more at ClearAuthenticbrands.com. That's all for today. See you next time.