Jennifer Hand | Fear Stops to Faith Steps, 180 -

180: Jennifer Hand | Fear Stops to Faith Steps

Jennifer Hand | Fear Stops to Faith Steps

JENNIFER HAND, executive director of Coming Alive Ministries, founded the ministry in 2012 and loves the honor of traveling nationally and internationally, inviting people to come alive in Christ through conferences, retreats, written resources, and counseling. She has had the joy of serving in over thirty countries.

With a Master’s degree in trauma counseling, God has opened a unique door for her to respond after natural disasters around the world, providing trauma counseling and the hope of Christ on the holy ground of suffering.

She would love to keep up with you in her cozy internet corner of the world at www.comingaliveministries.com or on social media @comingalivejenn or Jenn@comingaliveministries on Facebook.

Jennifer Hand and Amber discuss her new book, My Yes Is On the Table: Moving From Fear to Faith. Jenn walks the listener through her experience of God calling her away from her life as a career missionary and how she surrenders her fear and walks forward in faith.

Fear Stops to Faith Steps Questions:

(5:08) Take us back and share your experience of becoming a career missionary.
(9:15) You came home, as the title of your books says, you put your yes on the table. What next?
(11:32) You wrote, “I am afraid of success in ministry or relationships because it adds a weight of expectation, and sometimes I am afraid that it will require more than I want to give…I am afraid of failure because failure says to me I am not enough; I cannot live up to the expectation; I should not have tried.” After realizing you were afraid of both success and failure, what helped you move from a place of paralysis to moving forward?
(17:18) You have literally stood on the edge of the Promised Land during one of your trips to the Middle East. What did God reveal to you in that moment?
(25:01) A busy schedule does not equal glorifying God, so when you say live with your YES on the table, what do you mean?
(31:35) Share one of your funny stories with us and what God taught you.
(36:02) Let’s close with one of God’s grace markers in your life.

Quotes to Remember From Fear Stops to Faith Steps with Jennifer Hand:

“[W]hen you say yes to God, you’re in for a wild adventure…It’s just great to remember that He’s in control and just to be along for the ride.”

Take us back and share your experience of becoming a career missionary.

“I literally went to college with the intention of being a career missionary… And so after college, I went to Nepal.”

“I just want to encourage you that surrender is apart of our Yes. It is not a one and done. It is a daily, Here I am Lord.”

“Often our yes comes with no to what we have planned for ourselves.”

“I loved the title, Missionary…I found some real pride in my title, in my work for God and began to feel that my worth was in my work.”

“God began to show me your worth is not in your work for me, your worth is your worship of Me.”

After realizing you were afraid of both success and failure, what helped you move from a place of paralysis to moving forward?

“My first step was actually recognizing it. Then, running to the Lord with it and not trying to pretend or pretty it up, but just being like, ‘Lord, I am terrified.’ “

“I would encourage you to first recognize the fear. And then where are you running with that fear?…. Then, asking God to show me my next step of faith. And I’ll do it afraid…because if we wait until we’re not afraid we’ll never do anything.”

You have literally stood on the edge of the Promised Land during one of your trips to the Middle East. What did God reveal to you in that moment?

“Living with my yes on the table meant saying yes to go serve victims of war. So I was going over there to offer hope on the holy ground of suffering. I was going very afraid.”

“She said to me, ‘I knew you were coming. I had a dream that a blond haired blue eyed woman was coming to tell me who Jesus was. Will you tell me who He is?’ And I was so blown away, because fear almost stopped me from that yes…That was so transforming that I don’t want to miss anything God has for me, because fear stops me.”

“I’m standing there looking out into the promised land and I felt this revival in my soul that changed me forever. I got down on my knees, and I said, ‘Lord, I don’t ever want to miss one bit of the promised land you have for me…because of fear that leads to disobedience.’ “

A busy schedule does not equal glorifying God, so when you say live with your YES on the table, what do you mean?

“When we say yes to God, we’re not saying yes to all of man’s expectations of us.”

“He will take your fear stops and show you how to turn them into faith steps.”

Let’s close with one of God’s grace markers in your life.

“The Lord just kept saying, don’t shrink back, keep trying, keep saying yes. He bumped me up against every fear I had of failure and rejection and success and all of those things, because His grace is He wanted me to just be obedient and trust him with the results.”

“I want to encourage you to know that God is always working behind the scenes. It may not be in your timing, or in the place or the plan that you expect but He is always working out His purpose. And He is weaving His glory into your story and that is grace.”