Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him, and he will act. Psalm 37:5

I delight in the heart of Scripture, and I delight in the hearts of people. My life has been one long, ongoing conversation—learning my own soul, learning God’s character, and paying close attention to how He has wired others. Tools like Myers–Briggs, DISC, and StrengthsFinder have simply given language to what I love most: helping people see how they’ve been uniquely crafted, so they can bring their whole selves honestly before God.

Here’s the downside to knowing and understanding people. Not only do you discover their strengths, but you also come to know the depth of their weaknesses. When challenges come their way, you see 10x more pitfalls than most people because you know how they process life. The better you know them, the more you are tempted to worry.

This is my summer to more deeply address my lifelong battle with worrying, fretting, fussing, and anguishing. Though I teach Prayer Mapping and the language of faith, it continues to be my greatest struggle. Perhaps that’s why I’m so passionate to teach it. People who take the course can assume I’ve conquered it and have become some kind of expert. No, I’m living the challenge. Martin Luther said, “We teach best what we have had to learn most.”

I heard a bible teacher once say, “Faith is a filter.” That caught my attention because faith is the opposite response to anxiety. Faith reminds me that God is ruling when it appears mayhem prevails, God is watching when I fear He’s lost interest, God is active when I see no evidence of it, God is omniscient and I am not, God is sovereign over all surprises, God is redemptive when life seems full of wasted pain, God is fiercely protective when His children are vulnerable, God is just when evil temporarily prospers, God is a faith-giver when I’m running on empty, and God is a Father who is never fatigued, distracted, nor disinterested. “Let faith arise.”

Birth faith in new places. Deep places. Amen