Scared to Set Big Goals? 3 Biblical Steps to Faith
Jan 19, 2026Summary
Have you ever felt a prompting to do something so massive that it terrified you? If you are scared to set big goals because the "what ifs" are paralyzing you, you are not alone. In this special episode of the Arise, Women of God podcast, host Tamara K. Anderson and co-founder Wendi Christensen pull back the curtain on their own recent battle with fear. They reveal a massive announcement—moving from a weekly to a daily podcast—and share the raw, honest truth about the fear that came with it.
If you are scared to set big goals, this episode provides the biblical blueprint to move from paralysis to power. We dive into the "Stretch Factor" from Isaiah 54, explaining why God asks us to lengthen our cords and why discomfort is a sign of growth, not failure. Wendi breaks down the neuroscience of fear (the amygdala hijack) and how taking action is the only way to shift your brain back to faith. Finally, we introduce the "Look Back Principle" used by King David before he fought Goliath. By the end, you’ll have the tools to stop being scared to set big goals and start trusting the God who is building the house with you.
Episode Takeaways
- The Stretch Factor: God rarely asks us to stay comfortable. Just as Isaiah 54:2 commands us to "enlarge the place of thy tent," God-given assignments usually require us to lengthen our cords and strengthen our stakes. If you feel stretched, you are likely right where God wants you.
- Action Breaks Paralysis: Fear lives in the amygdala (the "fight, flight, or freeze" center). The spiritual and psychological cure for being paralyzed by a goal is action. Moving forward shifts your brain into the prefrontal cortex and activates faith.
- The Look Back Principle: Before David fought Goliath, he looked back at his victories over the lion and the bear (1 Samuel 17:37). When you face a scary new future, look back at your history with God to build the confidence that He will deliver you again.
- We Are Laborers Together: You don't build alone. 1 Corinthians 3:9 reminds us that we are "laborers together with God." He is the architect; we just show up for our shift.
Resources
Are you ready to clarify the specific dream or mountain God is calling you to claim? Download our FREE Workbook: Clarifying My Calling. It’s the perfect tool to help you list your opportunities and start your journey. 👉 Download the Workbook Here: https://www.womenwarriorsoflight.com/offers/6c8GbbHE/checkout
Need accountability? Check out our Warriors Accountability Group for free for two weeks! https://www.womenwarriorsoflight.com/join-now
Reflection Questions
- What is one "lion or bear" God has helped you defeat in the past? How does remembering that victory change how you feel about your current "Goliath"?
- Read Isaiah 54:2. In what specific area of your life (relationships, business, ministry) is God asking you to "enlarge your tent" right now?
- Are you stuck in "analysis paralysis"? What is one tiny, physical action you can take today to shift your brain out of fear?
- How does the truth that "Ye are God's building" (He is the owner/builder, you are just the laborer) take the pressure off your performance?
Transcript
Tamara K. Anderson
00:00:00.800 - 00:00:29.890
Ladies, have you ever had a goal that scares you? We have a massive announcement today that quite literally scares us and we're going to tell you a little bit about it.
We're also going to teach you how to face scary goals with faith and a few key Bible principles. So by the end of today's episode, you will leave with several key things to help you move forward through your scary goals with faith and confidence.
Intro/Outro
00:00:29.890 - 00:00:39.938
Ordinary women Extraordinary faith. When God calls, we say yes. The Arise Women of God Podcast
Tamara K. Anderson
00:00:39.938 - 00:00:51.730
hello and welcome to another episode of the Arise Women of God podcast.
I'm your host, Tamara K. Anderson, and joining me is my co founder for Women warriors of Light, Wendy Christensen. Wendy, it is an honor to have you on today.
Wendi Christensen
00:00:52.540 - 00:00:55.420
I am so happy and excited to be here. Tamara, thank you.
Tamara K. Anderson
00:00:56.220 - 00:01:55.430
So we are excited to announce that we are moving from a weekly podcast to launching a podcast episode five days a week that is Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. And that may sound impossible.
We also realize that if we're going to teach you how to reach for new goals with faith instead of fear, we have to be willing to be stretched ourselves. So here we are taking the plunge with you. So today, Wendy and I are pulling back the curtain on our own inner battles. Yay.
And we're going to first talk about the stretch factor and how to know if a goal is just a good idea or a God given assignment.
The second thing we're going to talk about is Wende is going to share her thoughts on breaking through paralysis of fear because we often face fear when we are setting big goals like this. And third, we're going to reveal the look back principle. So let's jump into this.
Wendi Christensen
00:01:55.990 - 00:02:04.470
So Tamara, when we first talked about going to five days a week for this podcast, what were your first thoughts?
Tamara K. Anderson
00:02:05.990 - 00:02:41.090
I was totally overwhelmed and I knew God wanted to us to accelerate this, but yet he has given me goals that have stretched me in the past, but it doesn't make it any less scary now. What I found was interesting is because Wendy and I, we prayed about this as we were trying to feel out if this was a good decision or not.
And Wendi gets an answer by it's like God paints a picture in her brain. Visually, I kind of hear more whispers or thoughts and so I write them down. So Wendi, share the vision that God kind of painted in your brain.
Wendi Christensen
00:02:41.570 - 00:03:21.050
Yeah, I'll see it in my mind's eye and it's not like I see an actual vision, but I just see it in my mind's eye and I saw this Big, huge tent.
And it was just expanding all across the world and being staked down in certain areas to reach these beautiful women out there that want to follow God and Christ.
It was just beautiful to see that he was bringing us all under this one place and the space as a tent and just coming all together as women to move his work forward, to prepare this world for the coming of his Son, Jesus Christ. Because I always feel like we're his mighty warriors. That's why we're the women warriors of light.
And it takes a community so that we can keep rolling things forward.
Tamara K. Anderson
00:03:21.510 - 00:03:55.470
After she shared that with me, we found this scripture in Isaiah, chapter 54, verse 2, where it says, enlarge the place of your tent and let them stretch forth the curtains of thine habitations. Spare not. Lengthen thy cords and strengthen thy stakes. And I thought, oh, my gosh, that's exactly what God is calling us to do.
I think the point is God doesn't always just ask us to move. He's asking us to expand, stretching, growing. And the good news is we're not doing it by ourselves.
If God's calling us to do that, he will help us to do it.
Wendi Christensen
00:03:55.790 - 00:04:50.960
You know, I think the pain point for a lot of our listeners, too, is that they can see that vision. But sometimes we get paralyzed by it. You know, when.
When you feel God moving you in a direction to go do something that's scary, fear can really step into that space. And fear becomes this massive psychological response that can stop us dead in our tracks.
And fear is the part of our brain that thinks that we can't do it. And it comes up with all these reasons. It's that fight, flight, or freeze. It's right in the center of our brain. That amygdala is what they call it.
And it keeps us stuck.
But if we shift and do some things to help our brain to shift to that prefrontal cortex, through this is the part, the adult part of your brain that's like, it's okay. The best thing you can do is take action. And as you take action and start moving and moving forward, you actually move through that fear.
And I think in a gospel perspective, that faith becomes your action.
Tamara K. Anderson
00:04:51.680 - 00:06:17.780
That reminds me of a scripture in second Timothy, chapter one, verse seven, which says, for God hath not given us the spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. And that's exactly what you're talking about.
When we feel the fear that comes from a new, huge goal that feels so overwhelming, it is calming ourselves for me, when I take time to learn about the process, and that gives me the forward momentum, the power, of course, I'm leaning on God as well and saying, okay, I know that if you give this to me, that you're going to help me to it. That is the faith versus fear battle that we all face. But it can be conquered. Let's go to the next principle, which is the look back principle.
This is the principle of looking back and remembering how God has helped us in our life before. So I can go back in my life and say, okay. I remember when my son Nathan was first diagnosed with autism, that.
That felt so hard and so overwhelming, and God helped me through that. And then I remember when he called me to write a book, and that was hard and overwhelming, and he helped me through that.
He helped me through this move. He helped me start that first podcast that was super scary. I can now look back on those and say, he did not let me down once.
Wendi Christensen
00:06:18.180 - 00:06:52.130
Yeah, it's like your brain looking for evidence of how God has helped you and actually looking for the good.
Because I think sometimes that when you're in that fight flight or freeze brain, you're looking for the negative and you're trying to identify the negative, and we look for evidence of the negative, and so then our results become negative. But what you're talking about, Tamara, is looking for the positive. You're looking back to see, how has God helped me?
Where have I seen his hand in my life? How has he helped me through this difficult moment?
And then you're looking for the evidence of that and blessing you so that you can have more of a sound mind moving forward.
Tamara K. Anderson
00:06:52.690 - 00:08:18.350
When I searched for a Bible verse on this, I was so thrilled to find one.
In the story of David before he faced Goliath, it says in 1st Samuel 17:37, David said, Moreover, the Lord that delivered me out of the paw of the lion and out of the paw of the bear, he will deliver me out of the hand of the Philistine. David here was looking back and saying, hey, when I was a shepherd, there was a lion that came to get attacked my sheep. And I defended my sheep.
And there was a. There was a bear that came and I defended them from that bear. And I think at the time he was probably thinking, what is this?
But God gave him the skills to do that. So that when, when he's going and facing Goliath, he's like, oh, this is just a bigger bear. This is just a bigger lion.
I can totally do this because I have built that faith and that trust in God. All right, ladies, so now we're to this final thing, what to expect from this podcast.
So starting tomorrow, you're going to see a totally new rhythm and we're going to dive into this by picking a theme every month or so, every week or so. It just depends on how many questions we have. We are going to start answering your questions five days a week for a month or so.
We're going to start answering how to set goals with God and around that kind of a topic. And we're going to share tips and Bible verses and personal examples surrounding this theme.
Wendi Christensen
00:08:18.750 - 00:08:53.400
So something that we are excited about in doing the five days a week is actually working at this together. We really are in all of this together.
And so I love the scripture in First Corinthians 3, 9, and it says for we are laborers together with God, Ye are God's husbandry. Ye are God's building. This isn't just Tamara and I that are building this.
This is all of us together working under God and He is the one who's building this. And we're just simply the laborers that's showing up for our shift and that we're all working together for Him.
Tamara K. Anderson
00:08:54.770 - 00:09:24.980
I love that. Wendi, thank you for sharing that beautiful verse.
So, ladies, if you are feeling that stretch, that call that God is inviting you to do something bigger and it may be something small, start there, follow the impressions that you're getting, step into your new and scary thing with us hand in hand, and we will do it together. And we have some amazing resources that we will also share with you here. Wendy, you want to tell them about our workbook?
Wendi Christensen
00:09:25.300 - 00:09:46.260
Yes. We created this incredible workbook that's called Clarifying My Calling.
And if you're feeling called by God to do something but you're not exactly sure what it is, or you're trying to define it or just kind of niche it down. This is a great workbook to pull out and to start working through.
We'll drop it in the link for the show notes for today's episode so you can grab it.
Tamara K. Anderson
00:09:46.420 - 00:10:25.530
And ladies, we also want to know what impossible goal God is placing on your heart, so drop it in the comments below. We'd love to pray for you as you labor in this new assignment that you're stepping into as well.
And if you're wondering what to watch next, check out our next episode that's going to launch tomorrow where we're going to talk about what does God say about dreams and goals? And we're I'm going to share with you the Caleb Method in action and how that can help you as you step into this.
In the meantime, may you arise, do it God's way and do it God strong.
Intro/Outro
00:10:25.530 - 00:11:20.710
Thanks for tuning in to the Arise Women of God podcast brought to you by Women warriors of Light.
If you're feeling unsure how to move forward in your calling or just tired of doing it alone, visit womenwarriorsoflight.com you'll find resources, accountability and a community of women who get it. Sometimes the calling feels bigger than you. That's when you need steady reminders of the powerful God who called you.
Subscribe now for weekly inspiration and the courage to keep going. Because with him, nothing is impossible. And you're not the only one. God is calling that friend on your heart right now. Share this episode with her.
Your small act of obedience could be the breakthrough she's been praying for. Until next time. May you arise, walk God's way and stand God strong.
