What Is Stopping You?

• By candidasullivan
• September 23, 2026
• No Comments

What is stopping you? 

It’s a powerful question, and one worth sitting with. So often, we accept our behavior without questioning it. We embrace the resistance to change and let ourselves off the hook.

In those moments, we don’t see the enemy lurking in the shadows. He laughs at our resistance and laziness, and delights in stopping us. A place of forgotten, procrastinated dreams exists, and the enemy wants to add yours to the list. 

He tells you:

Put it off another day.

You’re too tired.

Not good enough to do the dream on your heart. 

It’s too late. 

And sadly, the list goes on and on. 

If we are struggling to do something we know we should do but can’t seem to, we need to sit with it and pray about it. God can reveal what is underneath our resistance. Is it fear? Perfectionism? Exhaustion? Distraction? Or have we believed a lie that is keeping us from doing what He has placed on our hearts?

Every time we surrender to the same lie, it becomes easier to surrender to it again. What begins as resistance can slowly become a pattern. After a while, we surrender with very little resistance. This is such a dangerous place to be.

In this space and place, we end up harming ourselves. Not intentionally, but with our daily procrastination and then shame over not doing it. 

1 Peter 5:8 KJV

⁸ Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:

Fear is a liar. It’s a dream stealer. Fear tells us to stay tucked comfortably inside of our comfort zone. That way we won’t fail. Sometimes we’re so afraid of failing that we choose not to try at all. But when fear alone keeps us from doing what we know we’re supposed to do, we haven’t actually protected ourselves from failure. We’ve simply allowed fear to decide for us. 

I know it’s hard to do that thing that makes you uncomfortable. The first time I allowed someone else to read my writing, I thought I was going to throw up. I submitted an article to the newspaper, then paced the floor, crying and wanting to email them to beg them not to print it. 

The first time I did a school visit, my body shook the entire time. I thought I was reading to a small group in the library, when the school decided to take everyone to the gym for an assembly. I thought I would faint when I discovered I was the school assembly. 

Today, at this very minute, I still struggle. It’s uncomfortable to share the parts of myself that I would rather hide. I’m working on a new book, and I just want to throw it all in the trash. Sixty thousand words recorded through early morning and lots of tears, and yet I feel like it’s not good enough. I am not good enough to write this book. It’s taking too long. The enemy tells me to do it later. So I put off the rewrite for another day. 

Then it occurs to me that someone is waiting on the words I am too afraid to write. 

What if the book doesn’t have to be perfect to help someone?

What if I’m delaying what God can use because I’m waiting until I believe it’s good enough?

Maybe my responsibility isn’t to write the perfect book.

Maybe my responsibility is to write the book faithfully.

I can keep ignoring it. I can do other things instead of writing it. Or I can pray for the strength and ability to write this book on my heart. And then, just start. 

The enemy tries to make it so complicated. That’s a fear tactic. If we are paralyzed by fear, we will sabotage ourselves. 

We don’t have to know the plan. We can step out in faith and let God teach us along the way. God knows the plan and the steps along the way. 

I don’t need to know exactly how I’m going to finish this book. I don’t need to know whether everyone will like it. I don’t even need to feel confident that I’m capable of doing it.

I can pray.

I can open the document.

I can work on the words in front of me.

And tomorrow, I can do it again.

Maybe that’s how we stop letting fear steal our dreams—not by suddenly becoming fearless, but by refusing to let fear make our decisions.

So, sweet friend, will you join me?

Let’s do the thing we’ve been putting off.

Not because it feels comfortable. Not because we know exactly how it will turn out. But because we don’t want to reach the end of our lives carrying something God asked us to give.

Pray. Start. Trust God with the rest.