“What you see and what you hear depends a great deal on where you are standing. It also depends on what sort of person you are.”
JOSHUA 4-6
JOURNAL
I can see how easily my mind drifts into places that feel important but really are not. The smallest shift, like my heart rate being a little off, can pull me inward. Bigger things that I have no control over, like a war across the world, can pull me outward. In both cases, the result is the same. I become fixated, analytical, even obsessive. It feels like I am being responsible or aware, but in reality it is fear wearing a disguise. And while I am there, caught in that loop, I miss what is right in front of me.
Joshua did not operate that way. He was not scanning for threats or managing perception. He was not trying to control outcomes. He simply obeyed. His focus was not on himself or on what might go wrong, but on what God had already said. And because of that, God handled everything else. The path was made clear not because Joshua figured it all out, but because he stayed aligned with what was right in front of him.
The same is true in the birth of Jesus. From any human perspective it looked messy, confusing, even wrong. There were so many reasons to question it, to fear it, to try to make sense of it. Yet God was fully present in it. His plan was unfolding not through control or clarity, but through obedience and trust in the middle of uncertainty.
I can see how often I step out of that. I leave the present moment, the actual opportunities God has placed in front of me, and I trade them for thoughts that do not serve anyone. Fear pulls me into myself, while love always pulls me toward others. When I am consumed with what might happen or what feels off, I am unavailable to the people around me. I am unavailable to serve, to listen, to connect, to love.
The truth is that God’s love is not found in those spirals. It is found here. In the conversation I could have. In the encouragement I could give. In the small act of obedience right in front of me. That is where life is. That is where purpose is. To ignore that in exchange for fear based thinking is not wisdom, it is distraction.
Each day will present things that could pull me away. My role is not to chase them or fix them. My role is to return, again and again, to what God has placed directly in front of me. To trust Him with what I cannot control and to be fully present in what I can. To choose love over fear in the moment I am actually living in.
That is the work. That is obedience. And that is where I will find Him.
I can see how easily my mind drifts into places that feel important but really are not. The smallest shift, like my heart rate being a little off, can pull me inward. Bigger things that I have no control over, like a war across the world, can pull me outward. In both cases, the result is the same. I become fixated, analytical, even obsessive. It feels like I am being responsible or aware, but in reality it is fear wearing a disguise. And while I am there, caught in that loop, I miss what is right in front of me.
Joshua did not operate that way. He was not scanning for threats or managing perception. He was not trying to control outcomes. He simply obeyed. His focus was not on himself or on what might go wrong, but on what God had already said. And because of that, God handled everything else. The path was made clear not because Joshua figured it all out, but because he stayed aligned with what was right in front of him.
The same is true in the birth of Jesus. From any human perspective it looked messy, confusing, even wrong. There were so many reasons to question it, to fear it, to try to make sense of it. Yet God was fully present in it. His plan was unfolding not through control or clarity, but through obedience and trust in the middle of uncertainty.
I can see how often I step out of that. I leave the present moment, the actual opportunities God has placed in front of me, and I trade them for thoughts that do not serve anyone. Fear pulls me into myself, while love always pulls me toward others. When I am consumed with what might happen or what feels off, I am unavailable to the people around me. I am unavailable to serve, to listen, to connect, to love.
The truth is that God’s love is not found in those spirals. It is found here. In the conversation I could have. In the encouragement I could give. In the small act of obedience right in front of me. That is where life is. That is where purpose is. To ignore that in exchange for fear based thinking is not wisdom, it is distraction.
Each day will present things that could pull me away. My role is not to chase them or fix them. My role is to return, again and again, to what God has placed directly in front of me. To trust Him with what I cannot control and to be fully present in what I can. To choose love over fear in the moment I am actually living in.
That is the work. That is obedience. And that is where I will find Him.
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