How God is Giving Me Baby Step Breakthough

I’ve been encouraged recently by God’s help in giving me Baby Step Breakthrough.

With driving. A few blog posts ago, I posted about my baby step process to work on driving anxiety. And I just wanted to say that it’s been working, and I’m so excited!! I’m in awe of how God has been helping me, one baby step at a time.

For years now, my driving has been very limited, because I had some bad experiences of getting panicky on bigger roads, when I was terrified I was going to faint. And fainting on a motorway would be a very bad idea! The anxiety would come back whenever I went on a route I didn’t know, or a bigger road. I was stuck, and too busy to find time to work on driving, so I just stuck to a few easy routes I knew and could handle. But, last year, God gave me some time and space, and He began to help me find a way forward. I’ve been working on a plan for months, and it’s gradually but amazingly very much working!!

The Lord showed me that the way that would work for me with driving is a very gradual, very slow, very thorough exposure ladder. If you don’t know what exposure therapy is, as far as I understand it (I recommend checking out the experts if you want to copy me), it’s when you expose yourself to something that makes you anxious, one step at a time. In progressive steps. You start with something that doesn’t stretch you too much, and the top of your ladder is your ultimate goal. And when you’re going through each stage, it’s hard, because your anxiety is there, and it feels horrible! But, as you do that stage over and over again, the anxiety levels decrease, until you don’t really feel anxious anymore, because you’ve got used to the thing you were afraid of. And then you’re ready for the next step, up and up until eventually you get to the top of the ladder.

I tried an exposure ladder years before with driving, and it kind of worked, but the mistake I made, as I can see now, is that I rushed up the ladder too quickly. So, when I had a setback, I fell down many rungs at once, because I hadn’t done the process slowly and thoroughly enough. So the Lord showed me that the best plan for me is sloooow, thorough baby step driving process (I also checked it out and I’m safe to be on the roads- don’t worry!). One baby step at a time, repeated over and over and over again (ideally on good days, on bad days, in the daytime, in the dark, whatever the weather, even when I’m tired and not feeling like it) until that step doesn’t make me anxious anymore, and then, when I am bored of that step, progressing to the next one. And remembering to celebrate each step, because each one feels like a little miracle!

And then building the current step into my everyday life, so that I can do it over and over and over again, until I’m not scared anymore. Each time I go to the shops. Each time I go to church. Whenever I can fit the current stage into an everyday journey. Over and over and over again.

No time pressure. No pressure at all. Just slowly progressing through the ladder as I feel ready, one slow, thorough baby step at a time.

And it’s really, really working!!! Sure, it’s taking a while. But it feels miraculous! And I’m beginning to realise that driving can give me wings!

A few days ago, I did a very short motorway journey to church!! The first time I’d done that for years!! And that feels like a miracle!!! I had thought it wasn’t possible, but God did it! Was I scared? Was it hard? Yep. But I knew it would be. I stood against the fear in Jesus’ Name, and He really helped me. And it actually wasn’t as hard as I’d expected, because I’d been working on the ladder rung below it over and over and over and over again for weeks. And now I’m doing the same tiny motorway journey over and over again, and it’s gotten so much easier. I’m at the point now where I even look forward to doing it, because it feels like such a breakthrough!! And I’m not really scared of it anymore. It felt impossible, but God helped me. It gives me hope that, at some point in the future (remember, it’s slow, progressive baby steps), I could do a long motorway journey, and be fine.

And if I have a setback, hey, I can just go down a rung and do that one for a while, over and over again, before trying again. No pressure! Just baby step progress.

The Lord can do miracles. And He can also give wisdom. This plan came out of me praying for His help with driving, and listening to YouTube videos about driving anxiety, and praying for God’s help with how to move forward. It feels like He’s been guiding me through it (slow, thorough, progressive, and standing against fear in Jesus’ Name). And it feels like a miracle, because it’s working!

It’s still a slow process. Intentionally so. I feel like the more slowly, more thoroughly I do this, until I am bored of each stage, the more likely it is to last. It may be a year or two before I’m driving long motorway journeys I’m not familiar with. It may be a lot less. The point is that there’s no pressure. No time limit. Rushing this will probably be counterproductive. Just prayer, and baby step progress. And I’m so grateful for His help! And every step forward is a reason for celebration!

I know He can give help and breakthroughs in ways we can’t even imagine. I feel that, with a rush of joy, every time I get on the motorway (and that’s happened a few times lately!). I know He can give wisdom, and insight and help. He is so, so faithful.

How have you seen breakthrough in your story?

Is there anything you could ask for His wisdom and help with?