Following and Trusting : Encountering God Out of the Box

Every day, in a hundred small ways, your heart is choosing a posture.
This posture causes your life to run in a very distinct direction.

Toward God, or away from Him.
Love, or fear.

Is Your Heart Moving Toward God, or Away From Him?

“There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear.” (1 John 4:18)

You may not feel it happening. It doesn’t usually announce itself. It shows up in the small stuff — how you handle your time, how you talk to your family, how you respond when life feels unfair. But underneath every one of those small things is a posture. And every posture is rooted in either love or fear. (I share more about this in the book: “God, Show Me More of You”)

Here’s some good news: you can ask the Lord to show you which one is running the show. And once He shows you, you can choose differently… AND experience life very differently too!

Below are seven everyday areas where this plays out.
Read through them slowly.
Let the Lord highlight where He wants to meet you.

1. SEEKING GOD

Fear says: seeking God is exhausting, so just go through the motions. Fear leaves you in the dark, unnoticed, surrounded by the wrong influences.

Love says: seek Him on purpose, every day. Love puts light on your path and draws the right people into your life.

Ask Him: Lord, where did I learn that seeking You wasn’t worth the effort?

2. AUTHORITY

Fear either grabs at authority for itself, or refuses to use the authority God has given. Fear leaves you working too hard, in your own strength, fighting against the wind.

Love uses authority for God’s glory alone. Love finds the wind, the weather, even your own breath, working with you instead of against you.

Ask Him: Lord, where am I trying to do this in my own strength instead of Yours?

3. TRUTH

Fear avoids truth because truth can be costly. Fear quietly settles for less life than God intended — in your body, your relationships, your future.

Love chases truth and the life of God, even when it’s uncomfortable. Love gives life to others out of an overflow, and receives a long, vibrant life in return.

Ask Him: Lord, where have I stopped pursuing truth because it hurt too much?

4. TIME

Fear treats time like an enemy — always short, always slipping away, always an excuse to skip the appointment with God.

Love syncs to God’s timing and honors other people’s time too. Love discovers, surprisingly, that there’s always enough.

Ask Him: Lord, what’s underneath my chronic rushing, or my missed time with You?

5. BUILDING AND COMMUNICATING

Fear consumes without building anything that lasts. Fear holds on too tight — to children, to control, to the need to fix everything — and calls it love when it’s really anxiety.

Love builds beyond itself. Love releases what God asks us to release, and communicates honestly enough that people actually hear our hearts — and we actually hear God’s.

Ask Him: Lord, where am I gripping tightly instead of releasing to You?

6. WIN-WIN LIVING

Fear accepts lose-win and lose-lose as just “how it is.” Fear expects every transition to be rough, every system to fail.

Love is committed to win-win, even when it’s harder. Love trusts God for smooth transitions into whatever comes next.

Ask Him: Lord, where did I learn that someone always has to lose?

7. PURSUING GOD DIRECTLY

Fear outsources its relationship with God — borrowing someone else’s encounter instead of pursuing one of your own. Fear obeys, but never initiates.

Love pursues God through every door available — nature, Scripture, worship, work, rest, play. Love keeps discovering new rooms in God’s house that it never knew existed.

Ask Him: Lord, what’s one new way You want to connect with me?

WHERE FEAR MEETS LOVE

Here’s what I love most about this: your greatest problems aren’t wasted.

When you bring them honestly to God — instead of running from them in fear — they become the very soil where your experience of Him grows. And that experience becomes the message your life carries to others. And that message leads you straight into the birthright and inheritance God always intended for you.

Your fear isn’t the end of your story. It’s just an invitation to go deeper with the One who already drives it out.

So today, pick one of the seven areas above. Sit with it. Ask the Lord the question. And let Him start moving your heart, one posture at a time, from fear into love.

“Perfect love drives out fear.” – 1 John 4:18

Let Him. God is perfect love.

Merri Ellen 🙂

He has more for you!

YOU are a sacred space.

Meet with a trained coach to walk with you.

Join other hungry women seeking the Lord together.

Enjoy the books: “God, Show Me What You See”
or “God, Show Me More of You“