Making Faith the Foundation, Not the Fallback

By Jenna Schutt

Part of The Abundant Faith Team

Stop Rehearsing “What If?” and Start Rehearsing His Truth

You wake up in the middle of the night, fear gripping you, thoughts swirling all around you. The what ifs start pulling you toward a dark hole.

Your child comes home from school with tears in their eyes. You know something is wrong, and before they have even said a word, your mind is already ten steps ahead.

A test result arrives in the mail, and before you have even opened the envelope, you have practically written your obituary.

Before you have all the facts, your mind has already created an entire future.

What if?

It may only be two words, but if we let them, those two words can carry us into an entire future the Lord never asked us to live in.

How do I know?

Because I have lived it.

For the last eight years, through a rare, incurable disease diagnosis, IV chemotherapy, a stem cell transplant, and raising and homeschooling two small children in the middle of it all, there have been many opportunities for my mind to run ahead.

And somewhere along the way, the Lord began teaching me that faith must be the foundation I stand on, not the fallback I reach for after everything else has failed.

Faith Does Not Mean Ignoring What Is Real

Sometimes in the world of faith, we can mistakenly believe that doing something in the natural somehow cancels out our faith.

It doesn’t.

• Prayer doesn’t mean you don’t call the doctor.

• Faith doesn’t mean you don’t make a budget when the numbers aren’t adding up.

• Trusting the Lord doesn’t mean you don’t seek wise counsel when a relationship is falling apart.

• And bringing anxiety, depression, or emotional pain before the Lord does not mean you cannot also receive appropriate help and support.

Faith does not require us to pretend that hard things aren’t hard.

Throughout Scripture, we see people of faith acknowledge the reality of their circumstances.

• David cried out in the Psalms.

• Paul openly wrote about being “troubled on every side.”

• Jesus Himself wept at the tomb of Lazarus.

Recognizing what hurts is not the opposite of faith.

The danger comes when we recognize the problem and then stay there, staring at it, rehearsing it, magnifying it in our minds until it becomes the only thing we can see.

There is another way.

We can recognize what is real and then return to His truth.

Fear Does Not Have to Lead

Second Timothy 1:7 tells us:

“For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.”

Notice that Scripture does not say fearful thoughts will never come.

It tells us where fear does not come from and reminds us of what God has given us instead: power, love, and a sound mind.

That means when fear shows up, we don’t have to hand it the keys.

Fear can knock.

Fear can make suggestions.

Fear can whisper, What if?

But fear does not get to lead.

Maybe your hard isn’t medical.

Maybe it is

• A marriage that feels strained, and you don’t know how to repair it.

• A bank account that is nearly empty.

• You wake up carrying anxiety or depression and can’t even identify a clear reason why.

• You are waiting on an answer that seems like it should have come months ago.

Whatever your hard is, there is enough of Him for it.

That does not mean that bringing the problem to God will make it disappear instantly.

• Money may not miraculously appear in your bank account tomorrow morning.

• The prodigal child may not walk through the front door the moment you finish praying.

• The relationship may take time, forgiveness, counseling, humility, and work to restore.

• The diagnosis may not change.

I know that last one personally. But something changes when I stop magnifying the problem and begin magnifying the One who is with me in it.

What Are You Magnifying?

Psalm 34:3 says:

“O magnify the LORD with me, and let us exalt his name together.”

To magnify something doesn’t change its actual size. It changes how large it appears from where you are standing.

The Lord does not become greater because I magnify Him. He is already greater. It doesn’t make Him more faithful, more caring, more loving.

But when I continually stare at my problem, rehearse every possible outcome, search every symptom, imagine every conversation, and replay every fear, the problem begins to fill my entire field of vision.

All I can see is the diagnosis.

The what if.

But when I turn my attention back to the Lord, I remember He is there too.

The Way Maker, Restorer, Provider, Wisdom Offerer, Faithful One.

Knowing that gives me a firmer place from which to face reality.

I can

• make the doctor’s appointment.

• have the difficult conversation.

• redo the budget.

• send out the résumé.

• ask for help.

And I can do all of it while standing on something stronger than fear.

Recognize. Return. Repeat.

This is something I have had to practice repeatedly.

Recognize what is happening.

I’m afraid. My mind is running ten steps ahead. This circumstance is genuinely difficult.

Recognizing it keeps us from pretending.

But don’t stop there.

Return to Him.

Return to His Word before you have Googled every possible outcome, mentally lived through ten different futures, and before you have sent all your business to the group chat.

Isaiah 26:3 says:

“Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee.”

Where is the mind stayed?

Not on the problem, possible outcomes, or what-ifs.

On Him.

We are not helpless passengers inside our thought lives.

Second Corinthians 10:5 tells us to bring “into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.”

Romans 12:2 tells us to be “transformed by the renewing” of our minds.

The Word of God repeatedly shows us that what we allow our minds to dwell on matters.

So after we recognize and return, we repeat.

Again. And again. And again.

Not because repetition earns God’s help, or forces Him to do something on our behalf, or because saying a verse enough times magically forces a circumstance to change.

We repeat His truth because we are training ourselves by rehearsing His truth until that is what becomes familiar.

For years, there have been moments when I have had to deliberately return my mind to Scripture.

Fear says, You won’t be able to handle what comes next.

His Word reminds me:

“My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness.”

—2 Corinthians 12:9

Fear says, You are alone in this.

His Word says:

“I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.”

—Hebrews 13:5

Fear says, You need to figure out the entire future right now.

Jesus tells us:

“Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself.”

—Matthew 6:34

I don’t have to carry tomorrow while I am still standing in today.

Over time, something beautiful begins to happen.

The Scriptures that once required me to stop and search for them begin to come more readily.

I have rehearsed His truth enough that when fear speaks, His Word has somewhere to rise from.

Psalm 119:11 says:

“Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.”

We hide His Word in our hearts before we know exactly when we will need it.

Fear rehearses everything that could happen. Faith rehearses what God has already said.

Faith does not promise that every circumstance will turn out exactly the way we want.

But faith gives us somewhere solid to stand while everything else feels like it is crumbling beneath us.

Jesus spoke about two people who built houses.

One built on sand. One built on rock.

The storm came to both houses.

The difference was not that the person who built on the rock avoided the storm.

The difference was the foundation underneath him when the storm arrived.

That is the kind of faith I want.

Not a faith I desperately search for after the storm starts.

Not a last resort after I have exhausted Google, my friends, my own reasoning, and every possible contingency plan.

I want faith to be the ground already underneath my feet.

So the next time your mind begins to quietly whisper, What if?, don’t wait until you have exhausted every other option to reach for God.

Recognize the difficult circumstance.

Return to Him and to what His Word says. Then repeat. And repeat again.

Pray.

Seek His wisdom.

Fill your mind with His Word.

Remember His faithfulness.

Take the next step with Him.

And keep rehearsing His truth until returning to Him becomes so familiar that faith is no longer something you scramble to find when life gets hard.

It becomes the foundation on which you already stand.

Jenna Schutt is an author, speaker, former cardiac RN, rare disease survivor, and stem cell transplant survivor. Through The Joy Reflex™, she helps Christians train their hearts and minds through biblically based resources, renew their thinking with Scripture, and build a steady, faith-filled response to fear, uncertainty, and hard seasons.

A wife and homeschool mom of two, Jenna brings personal experience, practical teaching, and biblical encouragement to her writing and speaking. Her message centers on helping others make faith the foundation, not the fallback, so that faith becomes their first response rather than their last resort.

Learn more and find free resources at  jennaschutt.com.