The Bravest Thing You’ll Ever Do Is Let Go and Trust God
Letting go of fear and trusting God is one of the bravest, most beautiful things you will ever do in this life — and sweet friend, it just might be the one thing that changes everything.
Can I be real with you today? I have been thinking a lot lately about fear. Not the loud, obvious kind that makes your heart pound and your hands shake. I’m talking about the quiet kind. The kind that whispers. The kind that settles in so softly that you don’t even realize it has been running your life for years.
It tells you not to try. Not to trust. Not to love. Not to step into the beautiful, wide-open life that God has been holding for you this whole time.
And if you listen to it long enough, you wake up one day standing at the very edge of the life God designed for you — but you never stepped into it.
That is exactly what inspired me to write my novel Johnny’s Gift. And today I want to share the heart behind this story with you, because I believe its message is one that so many of us need to hear right now.
Reason One: Letting Go of Fear and Trusting God Starts With Recognizing the Quiet Thief
Fear doesn’t always show up the way you expect it to. It doesn’t always look like panic or anxiety. Sometimes it looks like staying in your comfort zone. Sometimes it looks like saying no to something your heart desperately wants to say yes to. Sometimes it looks like busyness — filling every minute of your day so you never have to sit still long enough to face the thing that scares you.
In Johnny’s Gift, Johnny is a young soldier who carries an extraordinary gift — one powerful enough to save the lives of the men who serve beside him. On the battlefield, he is brave. He is strong. He shows up every single time.
But when it comes to opening his heart? When it comes to letting love in? That is the one thing that terrifies him most.
And sweet friend, isn’t that so much like us? We can carry heavy burdens. We can push through impossible days. We can hold it all together for everyone around us. But the moment God asks us to open our hands and let go of the thing we are gripping the tightest — that is where the real battle begins.
“Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.” — Joshua 1:9 (https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Joshua+1%3A9&version=NIV)
Reason Two: Letting Go of Fear and Trusting God Means Surrendering the Need to Control
Here is a truth that took me a long time to learn: fear and control go hand in hand. When we are afraid, we grip tighter. We plan more. We try to manage every detail because somewhere deep inside we believe that if we can just hold on tight enough, nothing bad will happen.
But that is not how God designed us to live.
Johnny had to learn this lesson the hard way. He spent so much time trying to protect everyone around him that he forgot to let God protect his heart. He thought his gift was enough. He thought his strength was enough. But the truth was, until he surrendered his fear and opened his hands, he was missing the greatest gift God had waiting for him all along.
Sweet friend, maybe you are doing the same thing right now. Maybe you are holding onto something so tightly — a relationship, a plan, a dream, a hurt — that your hands are too full to receive what God is trying to give you.
What would happen if you just let go?
Reason Three: Letting Go of Fear and Trusting God Opens the Door to the Life You Were Made For
There is a moment in every heart when you realize that the life you have been living is smaller than the life God planned for you. Not because you did anything wrong. But because fear convinced you to play it safe.
“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” — Jeremiah 29:11 (https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Jeremiah+29%3A11&version=NIV)
God’s plans for you are not small. They are not safe and tidy and wrapped up in a predictable little box. His plans are wide and deep and full of the kind of love that takes your breath away — but you have to be willing to step into them.
Johnny’s story is about that very moment. The moment he stopped running from the thing that scared him most and finally trusted that God’s plan was bigger than his fear. And sweet friend, that moment changed everything for him.
It can change everything for you too.
Reason Four: Letting Go of Fear and Trusting God Takes a Different Kind of Courage
The world tells us that courage looks like being fearless. Like never flinching. Like having it all figured out.
But that is not what real courage looks like at all.
Real courage is being terrified and doing it anyway. Real courage is praying through your tears. Real courage is saying, “God, I don’t understand this. I don’t see the whole picture. But I trust You with it.”
That is the kind of courage Johnny had to find. Not the battlefield kind — he already had plenty of that. The quiet, trembling, soul-deep kind. The kind that says, “I would rather risk being hurt than spend the rest of my life wondering what could have been.”
“For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.” — 2 Timothy 1:7 (https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2+Timothy+1%3A7&version=NKJV)
Sweet friend, you already have that courage inside of you. God put it there. He is just waiting for you to use it.
Reason Five: Letting Go of Fear and Trusting God Is the Greatest Gift You Can Give Yourself
If there is one thing I hope you take away from Johnny’s story — and from this conversation today — it is this: you deserve to fully live.
Not halfway. Not cautiously. Not with one foot in and one foot out because you are afraid of what might happen if you go all in.
God did not place you on this earth to stand at the edge of your life and watch it pass you by. He placed you here to step into it. To love boldly. To trust deeply. To let go of the fears that have been holding you hostage and finally breathe.
That is what Johnny had to learn. And it is what I believe God is gently whispering to your heart right now.
Let go, sweet friend. He’s got you.
Johnny’s Gift is available now in paperback and ebook on Barnes & Noble (https://www.barnesandnoble.com/search?attributes.contributorId=957322&contributorName=Marilyn%20Hart). If you love clean Christian fiction about faith, courage, and the kind of love that changes everything, I believe this story will speak to your heart. 💜
I would love to hear from you today — what is one fear you are ready to let go of and hand over to God? Share it in the comments below. Sometimes just saying it out loud is the very first step to freedom. 👇
📖 Read more faith and encouragement blog posts: findinglifesmagic.net 🛍️ Visit my shop for faith-inspired gifts: etsy.com/shop/findinglifesmagic 📚 Find my books on Barnes & Noble 📸 Follow along on Instagram: @findinglifesmagic
With love and faith, Marilyn 💜