How Bill Yeargin’s Book ‘Faith Leap’ Can Help You Take the Leap of Faith You’ve Been Avoiding
- Maina Mwaura CrosswalkHeadlines Contributor
- Published Jul 12, 2024
As I turn 50 this summer, there are just some stories that stay etched into my mind. One was an experience at a camp I attended going into my seventh-grade year of middle school. It seems like yesterday, but it wasn’t. In fact, it was thirty-seven years ago. I can remember my mom’s rules, as she said to me, “The only call that I better receive from the camp chaperones is that of you accepting Jesus.” I know this may surprise many, but I was a hyperactive child who was prone to mischief and bad behavior.
Well, my mom was right. The only call she did get was about me accepting Jesus. I can remember standing in the pay phone line that evening, waiting to call to tell her the news that I was ready to take the leap of faith.
Looking back at my life, I see quite a few leaps of faith. To be honest with you, I’m drawn to people who take leaps of faith. One of them is my new friend Bill Yeargin, who has written a book titled Faith Leap, which may explain why I was drawn to the book. Throughout the book, Bill asks the reader to dig into their beliefs. I believe that if we are to take a leap of faith of any kind, we have to be rest assured, believing that God is taking the leap of faith with us. Far too many believers think that to take the leap of faith, everything has to line up in our lives.
Back to my friend Bill Yeargin, who is the CEO of one of the largest boating companies in the country. He has taken a company from hardship to profitability and explains in his book that God will more than equip us to take our faith journey into what he has called us to do. I couldn’t agree with Bill more. Father God has been right there with me whenever I take a leap of faith.
I’ve also discovered in taking leaps of faith that God will renew me during the process. After being fired from my last job eight years ago, I thought my career was over. I couldn’t see that God was renewing me for my second act, which has been the role of a content creator. As I look back eight years ago, what I thought would hurt me the most was honestly the same thing that would propel me to interview two US presidents and three Vice Presidents in the last eight years. I believe that when we trust God to take the leap of faith, he gives us his words in Ephesians 3:20, “Now to him who can do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power at work within us. There are so many good words laced in this Gospel Truth verse. However, one of them is “His power.” In taking your leap of faith, we must ask God to give us His power. There is nothing like his power and strength that will guide us.
This summer, I’ve taken on a personal goal to read about women of history, especially women of color who have taken leaps of faith. One of those women of faith that I’ve deeply enjoyed leaning into her life has been Harriett Tubman, who still ranks as one of the ten most admired women in history and has deeply intrigued me. Tubman, as you may already know, freed 750 slaves, doing so with no formal education to her name. In fact, it’s believed that she had never learned how to read. I recently spent time with author and professor Tiya Miles, who does a beautiful job laying out that because of Tubman’s lack of formal education in taking her courageous leaps of faith, she had to depend on the Holy Spirit to guide her. Miles states, “Tubman would pray, listen to God, and then do what He told her to do.”
If I had to put a definition to paper on what taking a leap of faith meant, that would be it. It’s amazing that Tubman had no formal education, not even to read the word of God, but she knew His voice enough to obey it anyway. It’s believed that Tubman freed approximately 750 enslaved people through her network, but there were too many to count through her connections. I think that when we take the leap of faith, God can do more than we immeasurably ask. Pastor Ronnie Floyd routinely says that God can do more in a moment than we can do in a lifetime.
This summer, my prayer is that you will listen to the voice of God, knowing that you have been well equipped by Him to carry out His will for your life but that you will have to take the leap of faith. I think my friend Bill Yeargin states it perfectly: “Discoveries that challenge my faith are not a problem because I understand there is considerably more to be discovered and learned, some of which will later validate my faith.”
Photo Credit: ©Bill Yeargin
