For quite some time I have felt the nudge to write. In fact, 18 months ago, I sent an e-mail to my husband asking him to research a specific blog site for me. Yet each time I thought about acting on this urge to write, I talked myself out of doing so.

Why?

Actually there are a number of reasons, but I think the main reason is fear.

• Fear of sounding like an idiot.

• Fear of being misunderstood.

• Fear of not having anything significant to say.

• Fear of no one reading what I write.

This list could go on forever, but today I have decided that it is time to begin to conquer this fear.

So…what’s different about today? Well today as I read a book by Mark Batterson titled All In, I came to page 96. On this page are these words:

“Most of us will only follow Christ to the point of precedence – the place where we have been before. But no further. We’re afraid of doing what we’ve never done because it’s unfamiliar territory. So we leave unclaimed the new gifts, new anointings, and new dreams that God wants to give us.”

Mark goes on to write, “If you want God to do something new, you cannot keep doing what you’ve always done. You’ve got to push past the fear of the unknown. You’ve got to do something different.”

For several hours I picked up and put down this book multiple times. I read those words over and over. I could not get beyond page 96. So, in order to move forward, I am taking hold of those words and pushing “past the fear of the unknown.”

Ironically these words remind me of the advice I used to give my kids when they were learning how to jump off the diving board. As they stood at the end of the board staring down at the water I would exclaim, “The longer you stand there and stare at the water the harder it’s going to be to jump. Just jump in!”

And so today I am pushing past fear and am doing something new. Today, as I stand on the end of the diving board and stare at the water, I’m jumping in…to write!