Fear or Faith
“Perfect love casts out fear.” Have you heard this phrase before? Is it true? If it is true, how can this be? Last year challenged us in so many ways. It was the perfect year to put this idea to the test. Or perhaps, God allowed for us to be faced with it.
There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear,
because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love.
- 1 John 4:18
2025 marked a year for our family where we were faced with many cross roads where we had a decision to make. On one hand we could align our hearts and minds with fear. Where will we live? What about work? Friends? Family? Health insurance? Christmas?!? and more! Or, we could align with perfect love and see how the adventure would unfold.
…for God is love.
- 1 John 4:8
It all started at the very beginning of 2025 when we had an opportunity to spend an evening with the owners of the house we were renting. This amazing couple has spent the better part of the past 2 decades as missionaries overseas. When we moved into their home in the middle of 2024 we knew of their plans to come back later in 2025 for a sabbatical. So we expected a “disruption” for a period of time, with hopes of moving back into their amazing home, with an amazing yard, in an amazing neighborhood after they moved back to the mission field. After a delightful time together they shared with us that they intend to move back, indefinitely! Wait. What? Okay, that changes the plan. However, oddly enough, in that moment we had a sense of peace and expectation in our minds and spirits.
Okay, now what? Of course, the conversation between us shifted to the Lord. A prayer of sorts. “Lord, we trust you. The plans you have for us may be plans we don’t understand or see right now. But we trust you. Please show us the next step for our family”.
Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance
about what we do not see. This is what the ancients were commended for.
- Hebrews 11: 1-2
Then, what happened next was truly unexpected. Something miraculous. Something that we would have never consider, create or dream up in our own minds. Some 10 days after learning that our housing situation was dramatically changing, Jenny gets a call from some dear friends in Norway. “Jenny, can you talk. Right now?” “Yes, I can call in 10 minutes. Is that okay?” Jenny replies. “Yes, talk to you then”.
Jenny makes the call, a call that, could and would, shape our lives depending on what we choose to align with. Fear, or faith. “Jenny, would you and Clayton consider moving to Norway, for a year or longer? We want you to live on our farm with us!”.
What is crazy, is that before making the call Jenny and I talked and we both knew this was going to be the invitation to “a once in a lifetime opportunity” before it happened. Some call it intuition. We call it discernment from the Holy Spirit. In us there was a knowing that this wasn’t a call to “say hi” or talk about the “weather”. We knew that the Lord was going to offer us an opportunity. Now it was up to us. Will we choose fear or faith?
After some additional calls with our friends in Norway, and conversations with trusted friends and family, it was clear that we could decline the invitation. We could choose the familiar. We could choose what was comfortable and “known”. We could find a different place to live in our hometown and continue on with the rhythm of our daily lives. We could choose the predictable.
However, as we wrestled with the fear of stepping into the unknown, we had a nagging thought that just would not go away. What if, at the age of 75, during morning coffee, the question: “I wonder how our lives would be different if we decided to NOT go to Norway?”. That thought frightened us, in a good way. This was a thought laced with regret. A thought that both of us refused to accept as a part of our story.
So, if you are reading this blog, you likely already know that we choose to step into the unknown. We chose faith over fear. Why? Because, we have grown to understand that our faith in Jesus sometimes comes with invitations from Him that requires us to step into the unknown; to step out in faith.
We have learned that in over 20 years of marriage that the outcome in saying “yes” to God’s invitations ALWAYS direct us to a good and fruitful end. We are not guaranteed that the journey will be easy, nor comfortable. We have learned that the journey is always an adventure, and, like all great adventures, we must face the twists, turns, victories, defeats to ultimately lead us to a very satisfying conclusion.
Of course, we are far from understanding the conclusion of this story. Or even the conclusion to the chapter that we are currently in. We face many ongoing uncertainties: Can we buy a car? How will the long term visas pan out for us? Will we make friends? How do we prioritize our time? How will the kiddo’s adjust to being foreigners living in a foreign land? Will we enjoy life on the farm? Will we learn all that is for us while in Norway? How will the finances work out for such a long stay? Will this decision change us so much that we don’t seem recognizable when we return? How does this impact friendship on the other side? And and on and on the questions go…
We make the choice in these uncertainties to wake up every day grateful for the journey we are on for we know that the plans he has for us are good!
Is there an invitation that you know you should to say “yes” to? Is fear holding you back? Will you regret aligning with the familiar?
May 2026 be a year in which we allow Christ’s perfect love to “cast out fear”. And, may this year be a year that we all choose faith and walk with the Almighty as He writes our stories of wonder and adventure.
It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then,
and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.
- Galatians 5:1