Verse 35 teaches a principle that I have come to know for myself. The bruises on my forehead from years of wall-banging will attest to its truthfulness. It says,
 
“I know that God will give liberally to him that asketh. Yea, my God will give me if I ask not amiss…”
 
There are countless times that I have asked amiss, and then wondered why God wasn’t listening. Let me share with you just one example:
 
I received the title From Food to Faith in revelation over 20 years ago, in response to my prayers asking, “What book would you want me to write someday?” When this title came to me, I knew it was true that faith would be an important part of my recovery from overeating, but in all honesty, I wasn’t sure how.
 
I already believed in God, and in His Son, Jesus Christ. I loved them. I tried daily to follow them. But they didn’t seem to have the power to keep my hands off of a second serving of cheesecake. And I asked! Trust me, I really asked.
 
I prayed for self-control. I prayed for the right diet. I prayed for help in following the right diet. I even found myself at times thinking that if could just muster the courage of that stupid mustard seed, I could wake up in the morning completely, miraculously thin and healthy. You won’t be too surprised if I tell you that it didn’t happen, would you? In fact, none of it happened. Why? Duh. I was asking amiss.
 
There is nothing wrong with wanting to find or follow a healthy diet. There is nothing wrong with wanting to get back in my Levi 501s or wishing I could “walk and not be weary.” And there is certainly nothing wrong with wanting to overcome a destructive relationship with food. So why was God seeming to ignore my prayers?
 
I now know that I was not asking the right questions. I wanted God to get rid of the symptoms of the problems. But the true problem was much deeper, and more painful and scary than I was willing to deal with.
 
This was like going to a doctor with a foreign object in my body that is causing a raging infection, and begging the doctor to “pretty-please, treat my fever, but don’t even think about touching the problem, because it would be just too painful to deal with it.” And, like a wise doctor, the Lord could only sit back, and wait for me to be willing to allow Him to remove the source of the problem.
 
For years I continued to treat the fever. Sometimes I found the right combination of medications that would keep it at bay for a day, a week, or perhaps even a month. But in the end, the infection would increase, the fever returning with a vengeance.
 
Finally, I began to realize that weight was simply the fever of my problem. I began to realize that my dress-size was only a symptom, and it was time to gather all of my courage and allow the Lord...The Great Physician, to finally touch the source of my affliction.
 
It was painful…I’m not going to lie. But it was far less painful than the fever had ever been. When I began to let The Physician do His work, things began to turn around almost immediately. I began finding little moments of peace. My relationships began to change. My trust in myself, others, and God began to strengthen and I began feeling a strength and peace in my life that I hadn’t really known was possible before.
 
Sometimes, I still find myself neglecting the real source of my problems, thinking that perhaps I am done being healed. And when I do, my temperature can begin to rise. I am not completely healed. But I have come to rely on The Physician. And when He reminds me that it is time to work on the source of the problem, I strive to listen. And He answers, every single time. I have come to know that He will always answer, when I ask not amiss. ​

​You may not believe me, but underneath my Eddie Bauer T-shirt is a great big “S”. It stands for “Self-Pity Woman”, and let me tell you, I’m the BEST at self-pity you’re ever likely to meet.  I don’t mean to brag, but I can feel sorry for myself faster than a speeding bullet. My limiting beliefs can be more powerful than a locomotive. And I am able to leap to conclusions in a single bound!
 
As I said, this power of self-pity sets me apart…literally.  It is the power that can set me apart from potential friends, opportunities, and can drive wedges between my most rewarding relationships. I know. I’ve been there.
 
Why would you want a superpower like that?!...you may be wondering? Well, it is the perfect superpower if you want to blame someone else for your lack of progress in your life, or if you’re scared to move forward in your big, crazy goals.
 
On the other hand, if you’re aching to do, have, or be more than you’ve been before…if you don’t want to be “in a class of your own”, perhaps you’ll discover, like I did, that it just might be time to keep the Eddie Bauer shirt on. 

I’m sure there were lots of laughs that day…but not from Mrs. Ivory. Mrs. Ivory put a smile on her face and laughed along with the several hundred students and teachers, hiding her bloodied leg, until she made it back to the solitary safety of her office…and cried.
 
I know, because I was Mrs. Ivory.
 
I loved teaching school. With 300 students a day, the energy was always high and I was always surrounded by a sea of good kids. I got to share with them my love of music. It was a blessing. But despite the blessing, the stress of a new job found me eating my way up another 50 pounds on top of the extra dress sizes I’d already accumulated when I went back to school in my 40s.
 
Excruciating pain had developed in my feet and made every step I took feel like I had microscopic pieces of glass in every cell. Doctors were baffled and exercise became nearly impossible. My war with food was in full-force, regardless of the 20 years I had spent dieting, and in this area of my life, I was physically and emotionally miserable.
 
My humiliating crash to that linoleum gymnasium floor was only more evidence to add to the emotional floor I’d been sitting on for years, and once again, I turned to the only thing I knew to numb the pain…food. Interestingly, in time I would discover that my problem was not the food. It was not the fat. It was the fear.
 
Fear had run my life for as long as I can remember: fear of being abandoned, fear of failure, fear of discovering that I will never, ever be good enough. So when I found myself sitting on the linoleum floor of an elementary school gym, surrounded by the deafening laughter of children and a few pitiful looks from teachers, my limiting beliefs about myself had only been strengthened.
 
The turning point for me came when I finally hired a mentor and coach who was able to help me see that fear was the root of my problems, and food only the symptom. As I became willing to do the work of challenging my false beliefs…of examining them, and replacing them with truth…as I began to trust God and His plan for my life, and the lives of those I love, then the healing began.
 
I began to find myself being picked up off of the proverbial linoleum floor, and seeing my life, and the world around me, from a whole new perspective…a perspective where I was not beneath the rest of the world, but where I was eye-to-eye and equal to. I began to find peace.
 
If you have been living on the linoleum floor of life, I invite you to take my hand and learn how to stand…how to brush yourself off…and live life up where you belong…equal with your brothers and sisters and cherished in the eyes of your Father. Learn to use that linoleum floor to help you walk your way towards peace.
 
Thankfully, I don’t crash to floors anymore…physically or emotionally. And in moments when the emotional chair seems to be a bit rocky, I know where to turn for support, comfort and clarity. I can finally say that I am grateful I finally hit “linoleum bottom”.

Sometimes the very things we want the most scare us. The bigger the idea, the scarier it seems to be...the more "impossible". It may even feel like we don't deserve to have, do or be it. 

In the John Maxwell Team, we call this the "Terror Barrier". You know the feeling...it comes up as soon as you begin to explore the possibilities of growth for your life. Shortly after you begin to take action towards your dreams, the fear kicks in. We pull up our proverbial feet, hoping to be able to interact with our dream without having to face the sharp teeth that we fear accompany the process of getting out of our comfort zone. 

It's important to remember that everyone experiences the Terror Barrier. For the first while, we run on motivation and excitement. But once our belief systems kick in we start thinking things like, "What was I thinking? I can't do this. I don't have time. I don't even deserve to be successful at this." The fear kicks in and we are now faced with a critical choice:

Will I turn around and go back to my comfort zone? 
or
Will I move through the fear and do it afraid? 

I am no exception. Becoming a coach has been exciting...and scary. finding peace with food has been exciting...and scary. Putting together From Food to Faith groups has been exciting...and scary. ALL processes that lead to actual growth include the element of fear, and the critical decision to move through the fear by doing it anyway...in other words, do it afraid.

When we face our fears of doing something but do it anyway, that is when we have the power to break through the Terror Barrier and actually attain a new level of success...an increase in our joy...another layer added to our comfort zone. 

I have learned enough now that I know I won't turn back, no matter how afraid I am. Why? Because the proverbial puppies that I was afraid of yesterday have become my best friends of today, moving me ever closer to the life of joy and significance I long for. So I can boldly declare, today I choose to do it afraid. ​Tomorrow I will choose to do it afraid. And I hope you will choose to do it afraid with me!