Tag: #trustingod

When Fear Wears the Mask of Procrastination

We often beat ourselves up for procrastinating. We call it laziness. We accuse ourselves of lacking disciple and willpower. But what if the real culprit isn’t laziness?

What if it’s fear?

Behind every delay, there may be a deeper emotion hiding—fear of failure, fear of rejection, fear of not being good enough. We don’t avoid the task because we’re lazy; we avoid it because doing it exposes something vulnerable inside us.

We Delay What Matters Most

Have you noticed that we often procrastinate on the things that mean the most to us? That medical checkup we should make. That conversation we need to have. That idea to start a book club or sports club.

These aren’t trivial tasks—they matter. And that’s precisely why we delay them. We fear that starting means we might fail. Or worse, that we might not be enough. Fear traps us—but God invites us to trust.

“Fear of man will prove to be a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord is kept safe.” — Proverbs 29:25

Perfectionism: The Polished Mask of Fear

Perfectionism often disguises itself as excellence, but at its core, it’s fear in a tailored suit. We say we’re “just waiting until it’s ready” or “I want to give it my best,” but sometimes we’re just stalling because we’re scared it won’t be perfect.

God doesn’t call us to perfection. He calls us to obedience. There will never be a perfect time. The best time is now—flawed, messy, but surrendered to Him.

“If you wait for perfect conditions, you will never get anything done.” — Ecclesiastes 11:4 (TLB)

The Cure for Fear is Trust

Procrastination loses power when we anchor ourselves in God’s promises. He doesn’t expect us to have it all figured out—He simply asks us to take the next step in faith. You’re not walking alone. God is with you.

“Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified… for the Lord your God goes with you.” — Deuteronomy 31:6

My Invitation

This is my invitation to you today: take a moment to notice what you’re putting off—not with shame, but with curiosity. Ask yourself: What am I afraid of?

Then bring that fear to God. Let His strength fill your weakness.

Because on the other side of that fear might be your next breakthrough.

Cultivate the Garden of Your Faith

Growing our faith is like cultivating a garden. It needs tender loving care and patience. Plants do not grow overnight – similarly, our faith takes time to grow and mature. We need our Master Gardener to help us cultivate our Garden of Faith.

Prepare the Soil – Make Room for God

Before any seed is planted, the soil must be tilled. That means removing rocks, weeds, and thorns—the habits, thoughts, and distractions that harden our hearts or clutter our minds. We have to ask ourselves: where is our attention and focus? Is there any space in our lives for stillness, prayer and reflection? Just as the gardener clears the soil, we are called to examine, purify and prepare our hearts to make room for God.

“Break up your fallow ground, for it is time to seek the Lord, till He comes and rains righteousness upon you.” — Hosea 10:12 (ESV)

Sow with Intention – Plant the Seeds of Faith

Planting takes intentionality. Faith grows when we consistently invest in it – through prayer, devotions, worship, scripture reading, acts of love and kindness, trust and obedience to God. We have to sow the seeds of God’s love in our hearts and nurture our faith intentionally.

“Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.” — Proverbs 4:23 (NIV)

Trust the Process – Growth Takes Time

Gardens don’t bloom overnight. Likewise, our faith matures through seasons—sometimes in silence, sometimes in storms. But underneath, God is always working. While waiting, we must not lose heart, but stay vigilant against the weeds of bitterness, comparison or apathy that can take root if left unchecked. Even when we don’t see anything happening, know that God is working underneath the soil and growing our roots for a sturdy foundation against the storms of life.

“Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest…” — Galatians 6:9

My Invitation

This is my invitation to you today – to start cultivating your garden of faith by weeding out the negative voices and plant seeds of God’s Words to sink its roots in the fertile soil of our hearts and for the branches to grow strong and tall.

Wax On, Wax Off – Trust in the Process

This famous saying, “Wax on, wax off” was based on the 1984 Karate Kid movie, where Miyagi-san was teaching Daniel-san karate through waxing the car, washing the floor, and painting the fence. Miyagi-san’s part was to teach, and Daniel-san’s part was to learn, without question. And while doing it, “Breath – don’t forget to breath, very important!”, reminded Miyagi-san.

Daniel-san grew impatient and became suspicious that Miyagi-san was using him for child labour. He wanted to quit because he didn’t see the result that he wanted and the way he expected it. Later he realised that the unusual training from Miyagi-san formed the strong foundation of his karate training, even though he couldn’t see it at first.

It is very similar in our lives. We see so many things we need to do, and sometimes we do them willingly or obligingly or grudgingly; other times, we quit. Sometimes, in our young foolish mind, we don’t see the benefit of studying hard for a good education. In our work, we don’t see that our jobs are stepping stones to a higher career path. In our health, we don’t see how our eating and sleeping habits greatly affect our health, until one or two decades later. We prefer instant results.

In our faith, we don’t see the hand of God working in our lives for our good, especially when we are going thought terrible trials. We don’t realise that God takes our failures and turn them into something good. A blessing in disguise. Many times, God uses our pain to grow us to be more compassionate and to help others in need.

When Miyagi-san instructed Daniel-san to practice without questioning, he is asking Daniel-san to trust him. Similarly, God is asking us to put our trust in Him. When Miyagi-san reminded Daniel-san to breathe, God is reminding us to pray.

Just as Daniel-san couldn’t see the purpose of doing the wax on and wax off – we don’t always see God’s hand in the mundane or tragic events in our lives. Only in trusting God that we can eventually see God’s amazing plan when He reveals it to us.

So, continue to wax on, wax off!!! Have fun and enjoy the process!

Start, even if you are not ready

We have a tendency to analyse and research when we want to start a personal project – Google search, ChatGPT, seeking expert opinion and friends’ advice, do research – all to make sure our little project that we have been dreaming of is fail-safe..!

The problem with all these checking and analysing is that we end up not starting at all – the curse of “analysis paralysis”. Furthermore, all the preparations might not prevent us from failure, as many things are not under our control.

So when do we start? NOW.

How do we start? Whatever first steps we can take. We don’t need to figure out all the steps to start our project. Along the way, we will figure things out, as we get more feedback and can improve on our initial action plans.

God always puts in our heart the desire to dream and make it happen. He will be the one to show us the way, but He will only show us a few steps at a time. Just so we trust Him. He will remove the obstacles in our way, and bring the connections and resources that we need. Sometimes, it is harder or longer than we expected, as we prefer to have things fast and easy. God wants to grow our character and it takes time. Humans and plants do not grow overnight – it takes time and seasons. Caterpillar takes time to turn into a beautiful butterfly.

We don’t see the finish line of a race when we are at the starting line. God sees the finish line and our victory. We journey together on this adventure, but we need to be at the starting line to start the race.

Trust in God’s timing.

Trust in the process of growth.

Just START.

Whether you feel ready or not.

Especially when you don’t feel ready!

How to Nourish a Starved Soul

We nourish our bodies with nutritious food.
So I pondered: how do I nourish my starved soul?

Let me share my ways:
– Gratitude: give thanks for the many blessings in my life
– Kindness: being kind to myself, and not beat myself up when I fail
– Gentleness: be gentle and go easy on myself on hard days
– Forgiveness: forgive myself
– Experience pain and sorrow: to allow the emotions to overwhelm me in a safe space, and not bury them all the time; to cry, scream or shout or any other ways to let my emotions flow out safely
– Reading: to gain insight, learnings, and to enter into the world of the author
– Travel: to explore new places, food, cultures and environment
– Support: to seek support from family and friends who understands me, instead of carrying the burden by myself
– Authenticity: to have the courage to be vulnerable and to reveal my true self, good and bad
– Beauty: to recognize the beauty within my soul and treasure it
– Service: to reach out to serve others in need, to service in a community
– To Love: to love others unconditionally, no strings attached
– To Be Loved: to allow others to love me unconditionally, to allow them to enter into my inner world
– To know that – It’s okay not to be okay sometimes, that I haven’t gotten it all together in some seasons of my life, but it’s okay
– To Wait: to know that I sometimes need to wait for God’s timing for my life, that He is working in my life as I wait patiently for Him
– To Meditate or Practice Mindfulness: to quieten my busy mind and seek my inner strength within
– To Trust in God: for me, this is the most important one; to trust that God is always faithful to walk with me through my joys and sorrows, and that He is always with me through thick and thin

To tell you the truth: I don’t always do all these things above. When our bodies are starved, we can feel the hunger pangs. But when our souls are starved, we are sometimes not even aware of it. Let us always remind ourselves to nourish our souls lovingly.

Feel free to add to my list in the comments. I would love to find out more ways to nourish my soul. Thanks!