God Empowers Us & Builds Confidence

I am in the process of moving and had to paint an accent wall in my new living room that was mauve and didn’t fit my earthy furniture colors before my new carpet was installed. I was really fearful of how it would look with me doing it vs a painter. I've only painted about twice in my life and it was alongside other people.

Well, there were some things I would do differently -- like not getting paint all over myself and my new step ladder -- but it ended up looking great despite my lack of experience painting. And it gave me a bit of confidence that maybe I could do things I didn't think I could with the help and encouragement of my Heavenly Father at my side.

The experience made me think about how we get irrationally afraid of doing things that are new or outside of our comfort zones. We may think we can’t do something, but God pushes and empowers us to do it, and then everything ends up working out. God shows that we can in fact do something we may think we cannot do.

He wants to increase our confidence in our potential. He wants us to go outside of our comfort zone to grow.

Of course I would be remiss if I didn’t thank the wonderful young lady at Sherwin Williams who taught me the ropes and pointed me to everything I needed for the paint job. So that's perhaps another lesson: Others help you get over the finish line with each new feat you pursue.

There are many things in my life I avoid or don't do out of fear -- I think that's true of many people. As I reflect on this experience, I think that God gives us these little successes to show us that we don't have to be afraid. We can be confident because we can do it with Him and the people He puts in our path to help.