With the arrival of spring, gardeners are faced with some difficult decisions:

What should I grow in my garden?

You only have so much square footage and only so much soil.

You have to make hard choices about what plants will be given space, and which ones you’ll have to forgo this year.

Maybe you’d like to grow dozens of pink roses in your garden plot. That’s a great idea: it would look gorgeous and smell beautiful.

But then you’d have to give up on the idea of growing a vegetable garden in that spot. You simply don’t have the space to do both.

If you dream of having a wildflower meadow in your yard, you’ll have to skip your plan of creating a formal French garden. You have enough room for one or the other, but not both.

Similarly, you only have so much real estate in your mind.

You have to make decisions about what you’ll let take up space.

What will you grow there?

Faith or fear?

They both grow in the same soil, so to speak: uncertainty.

But only one of them produces a harvest that’s worthwhile.

In Scripture we see that when you replace fear with faith, it makes room for miracles to grow. Both Moses and his parents demonstrated bold faith when faced with powerful forces that left others fearful.

“It was by faith that Moses’ parents hid him for three months when he was born. They saw that God had given them an unusual child, and they were not afraid to disobey the king’s command.” (Hebrews 11:23)

“It was by faith that Moses left the land of Egypt, not fearing the king’s anger. He kept right on going because he kept his eyes on the one who is invisible.” (Hebrews 11:27)

God used this faith-filled soil to grow a leader who would be instrumental in freeing His people from centuries of bondage.

Amazing things can happen when you replace fear with faith!

But what about when we let fear crowd out faith? We sink.

You’ve probably all heard of the account of Jesus walking on the water. The disciples were astounded to see this. Peter, in a burst of faith, asked Jesus to beckon him to come.

“ ‘Lord, if it is You,’ Peter replied, ‘command me to come to You on the water.’ ‘Come,’ said Jesus. Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water, and came toward Jesus.” (Matthew 14:28-29)

So far, so amazing: Peter was walking on water!

But then he let fear overtake him.

“But when he saw the strength of the wind, he was afraid, and beginning to sink, cried out, ‘Lord, save me!’ ”(Matthew 14:30)

Peter made the mistake of giving too much real estate in his mind to fear. It crowded out his faith so thoroughly that he thought he was going to die in the storm. Fear can warp our perspective of reality, and of the goodness and mercy of God.

Did Peter really think that Jesus would have let him drown in the tempest?

Do you really think that He’ll forsake those who believe in Him?

If you do, you’re giving too much space in your thoughts to fear.

So nudge it out. Evict fear from your mind.

Instead, grow a crop of faith. Then, you’ll produce a harvest of peace, blessings, and maybe even a miracle or two!

© 2022 Lori J. Cartmell. All rights reserved.