Eliminating fear from decision-making

I was on my way to a job interview and feeling a surprising amount of fear. What if I arrived late or dressed wrong? What if I messed up during the interview? What if I were leaving my present employer in a difficult position? I thought about turning around and going home.

I had been praying for God’s guidance and felt that this new opportunity was the result of my prayers. But if that was the case, I wondered, shouldn’t I feel peace and not fear?

These unnerving thoughts swirled through my head, but I continued on to the interview and ultimately got the job – a position that allowed me to put my talents to use in fresh directions and supported my desire to progress spiritually.

While this outcome confirmed for me that God had, in fact, been guiding all my steps, the puzzling questions remained: Why had I felt so much fear on the way to the interview? Isn’t peace in our hearts one of the most certain signs that we have heard God’s guidance and are on the right path?

This was a useful lesson in distinguishing between spiritual sense and material sense – between the understanding that comes from knowing God as ever-present good and the assumptions and beliefs that come from taking in a limited, ground-level view of the world around us. Mary Baker Eddy writes in “Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures,” “Material sense does not unfold the facts of existence; but spiritual sense lifts human consciousness into eternal Truth” (p. 95).

It’s natural for me to turn to God, divine Truth, for guidance when I need to make a decision. God is our creator, our Father and Mother, and always cares for each of us. We are made in God’s own image, as we read in the Bible. These facts link us forever to God and to His laws of good, which are in operation at every moment, weaving God’s spiritual creation into a tapestry of usefulness, goodness, and joy.

Because we are inseparable from God, we always have the ability to express all of His qualities, such as humility, intelligence, and spiritual intuition. These are qualities of spiritual sense, and as we exercise them, we can feel God directing our steps. Whether it comes as a clear, strong conviction or a gentle, developing intuition, God’s guidance always brings us peace and certainty.

I came to see that my fear and indecision prior to the job interview were simply the result of taking a material view of the situation. To spiritual sense, peace had always been there, but the matter-based questions and the fear they fanned hid that peace.

Since fear has no basis in God, good, it has no power. Science and Health says, “Fear never stopped being and its action” (p. 151). As God’s image, we have all that we need in order to face down fear and walk right through it, proving it powerless.

As we accept the opportunities God gives us, we may be required to get out of our comfort zones. But God gives us the vision, self-possession, and courage that we need in order to do this.

These ideas helped me recently when I was feeling pain in one knee the night before a volleyball game. The next morning things were not improved, and I considered skipping the game.

But this time, I readily identified the indecision as stemming from fear. Remembering that fear could never stop my true being or right action, I knew I could make a decision based on what I knew of my spiritual identity as God’s image and likeness, always free, strong, and agile. I didn’t need to fear that a physical condition had the power to harm me.

Replacing fear with spiritual sense, I relied only on God’s guidance. It came to me to get dressed for play and go to the game. By the time I arrived, the pain was gone, and I played without difficulty.

Because you and I are truly God’s image and likeness, fear can’t stop the unfoldment of His goodness in our lives or hide from our hearts the courage to act that He gives us. When we refuse to be intimidated by fear and courageously take the steps God is guiding us to take, we can confidently expect to find fear vanquished and new views of God’s goodness coming to light.

Adapted from an article published in the July 24, 2023, issue of the Christian Science Sentinel.