What has fear convinced you to hide, bury, or hold back that God is asking you to finally put to work?
Episode Summary
We all want our lives to matter. We want to make a difference, live with purpose, and use what God has given us well. But so often, something gets in the way: fear.
In this solo episode, Collide founder and host Willow Weston explores Jesus’ parable of the talents in Matthew 25 and asks a challenging question: What have you buried because you’re afraid to use it?
In the parable, a master entrusts three servants with different amounts. Two put what they’ve been given to work and multiply it. The third buries his talent because he’s afraid. Willow points out that the master isn’t asking each person to produce the same result or possess the same gifts—he’s looking for the same thing from each of them: faithfulness with what they’ve already been given.
Willow challenges us to consider how much of our own lives we may be hiding, hoarding, holding back, or playing safe with because of fear. Maybe it’s your creativity. Your generosity. Your leadership. Your story. Your resources. Your dream. Your ability to encourage someone. Maybe it’s something that feels so small you’ve convinced yourself it couldn’t possibly matter.
But small things can become so much more when we’re willing to put them to work.
Willow shares the story of challenging 30 women on the Collide Ministry Team to take small amounts of money and leverage them for good. A few dollars became meals for people who were lonely, coffee for grieving families in hospital waiting rooms, help for a child who couldn’t afford to play sports, chairs for Collide classes, support for a grieving woman, and even a chicken that could help a family in an impoverished village earn money for school.
The question becomes: If God can multiply something that small, what could He do with your whole life?
Willow also gets personal about the fear that has held her back from writing. Despite feeling called to write—and even encouraging other women to use their gifts—she shares how fear of rejection, inadequacy, judgment, and failure has tempted her to keep her own words hidden. It’s a powerful reminder that we can believe someone else should use her gifts while simultaneously convincing ourselves ours aren’t good enough.
Through ten ways fear keeps us stuck, Willow exposes how fear lies, fuels comparison, reminds us of past failures, encourages us to play it safe, and convinces us to bury what God intended us to use.
But Jesus invites us out of hiding.
If fear has kept you small, silent, safe, or stuck, this episode is an invitation to pick up the shovel, uncover what you’ve buried, and start moving toward the life God has given you to live.
Meet Willow Weston
Willow Weston is the founder and director of Collide and host of The Collide Podcast. Through her teaching, writing, and leadership, Willow is passionate about helping women encounter Jesus in the midst of their real stories and move toward greater healing, hope, freedom, and purpose.
In this solo episode, Willow brings her own fears into the conversation, sharing honestly about the ways she has wrestled with putting her writing into the world. Her message is one she is learning to live herself: we weren’t given our lives, stories, gifts, and resources to bury them. We were given them to use.
Key Takeaways
- When you think you don’t have enough: Work with what you do have. God isn’t asking you to possess someone else’s gifts; He’s asking you to be faithful with yours.
- When something seems too small to matter: Put it to work anyway. A dollar, an encouraging word, a connection, a skill, or a few hours of your time can become more when you leverage it for someone else.
- When fear tells you to be like her: Remember Willow’s reminder: “Be you, not her.” Comparison can keep you from using the exact gifts God gave you.
- When your past makes you feel disqualified: Don’t let an old outcome determine every future possibility. Fear loves to use your past as evidence that you shouldn’t try again.
- When playing it safe feels responsible: Ask whether safety has become hiding. The servant protected what he had—but protecting it also meant it never multiplied.
- When you’re afraid of failure: Name the fear. Willow says fear begins losing some of its power when we uncover it instead of allowing it to quietly control us.
- When you’ve buried a gift or dream: Start digging. Write again. Apply for the job. Sing somewhere besides the shower. Give generously. Take the step you’ve been avoiding.
- When you feel held back: Remember that breaking free requires movement. Eventually, we have to act on the belief that God’s power is greater than whatever has been keeping us stuck.
How This Episode Will Encourage You
Maybe fear has convinced you that you’re not talented enough, educated enough, strong enough, interesting enough, spiritual enough, or brave enough.
Maybe you’ve spent years holding onto something God gave you because using it feels risky.
Willow compares fear to the tiny rope used to restrain a full-grown elephant. Because the elephant was conditioned when it was young to believe it couldn’t break free, it eventually stops trying—even when it has become powerful enough to snap the rope.
How many of us are doing the same thing?
Jesus doesn’t collide with us so we can remain tied to the same fears, lies, insecurities, and limitations. He wants us to break free.
So name the rope.
Dig up what you buried.
Take the step.
Use what you have.
Come out of hiding and run toward the life you were made to live.
