Most of us would probably answer, “Jesus.” And at the deepest level, we mean it.

Something genuinely new has happened to us in Christ. We are new creations. The Holy Spirit lives within us. And Paul reminds us of the reality already unfolding in our lives:

And then pressure rises.

Stress settles into your chest. A relationship gets tense. Money gets tight. Work becomes uncertain. Someone you love disappoints you. An old wound gets touched.

And suddenly, you don't act much like yourself.

Old patterns of self-protection kick back in. We control, withdraw, appease, explain, get defensive, or try harder. We reach for familiar masks that once helped us navigate a frightening or uncertain world.

Over time, those protective patterns can become a kind of false self—the version of ourselves we believe we need to be in order to stay safe, accepted, in control, or loved.

And maintaining a false self takes an enormous amount of energy.

Fear can pull us out of step with the Holy Spirit and back into these familiar ways of protecting ourselves.

We haven't stopped being new creations. We just aren't living very much like ourselves.

No wonder following Jesus can sometimes feel so heavy.

More information alone doesn't change this.

Our spiritual library is full too. We've read the books, highlighted our Bibles, memorized verses, attended conferences, taught classes, and led churches.

We're grateful for all of it.

But we've discovered that knowing what is true and being able to live from what is true under pressure are not always the same thing.

The answer isn't to work harder at becoming someone new.

What we're learning is how to live from the new life we've already been given.

Through some wonderful seasons and some very painful ones, we've discovered rhythms and simple practices that help us become peaceful, reconnect with God and one another, and return to joy when fear knocks us off balance.

We're still learning.

But year by year, we're experiencing a greater capacity to receive love, give love, remain relational, and become more like ourselves under pressure—not less.

CATCHING YOUR BREATH TODAY

It isn't a life without fear. Fear is part of being human, and sometimes it tells us something important.

Fearless Joy is a life in which fear no longer has to run the show.

It's learning to walk in step with the Holy Spirit, rooted in love and increasingly free to live as our authentic selves in Christ.

And when fear does knock us off balance, we can learn how to return—to peace, to relationship, to joy, and to the people God created us to be.

We've found some rhythms and practices that are helping us live this way.

We'd love to share them with you.

Welcome to our front porch.