Keep Your Face to the Sun

We all face seasons where the shadows seem to stretch longer than the sunlight—when delays, disappointments, or doubts feel louder than faith. But what if the key to peace and progress isn’t about changing our circumstances... it’s about shifting our focus?

Helen Keller once said,
“Keep your face to the sun and you will never see the shadows.”

That’s not just pretty sentiment—it’s perspective born from a life that knew hardship. She understood what it meant to live in literal darkness and still choose light. She didn’t deny her limitations; she simply refused to let them define her direction.

That kind of courage makes me pause and check my own posture: Where am I facing right now?

Because truth be told, it’s easy to get caught looking at the shadows. The disappointments. The delays. The things that didn’t turn out like we prayed they would. But when we turn toward the sun, something powerful happens. There’s a life-changing shift. The shadows don’t disappear, they are still there…but they lose their hold.

Ralph Waldo Emerson said it well:
“What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.”

In both business and life, that’s a powerful reminder. The results we chase, the opportunities we hope for, even the obstacles we face—all of those are external and often beyond our control. The real momentum starts inside. The drive, the faith, the creativity, the resilience—that’s what determines the outcome. What would it look like if we remembered that the God-given, world-shifting strength—is already within?

Ephesians 3:20 says it this way:
“Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us.”

That’s the secret most success strategies miss: it’s not about pushing harder or doing more—it’s about aligning with the power already working in us and through us. It’s about facing and focusing on the Light and not the shadows

And I was recently reminded of a truth that hits right at the heart of that:
“Where attention goes, energy flows.”
What we focus on expands. If I fixate on what’s not working, that’s exactly what grows. But when I give my attention to what’s possible—to the purpose, the potential, and the promises of God—momentum starts to build in that direction.

Here’s another thing I’ve learned along the way: it’s not just other people who try to write our story. Sometimes, we’re the ones holding the pen—crafting narratives that don’t serve us. Stories that whisper we’re not ready, not enough, or too late.

The truth is, at the end of the day, we are who we choose to be.

Not what happened to us. Not the label, not the diagnosis, not the story other people—or even we—once believed. We get to choose how we show up, where we look, and what we believe about what’s possible. Every day, with every decision, we choose the story we live out.

We get to choose how we show up, where we look, and what we believe about what’s possible. Every day, with every decision, we choose the story we live out.

And part of living that story in the light is taking the chances that call to us—even the ones that scare us a little. Because you automatically lose the chances you don’t take.

Faith, growth, and purpose all require movement. Sometimes the first step is just turning your face toward the sun and trusting that the next one will be clear when you need it.

We get to choose how we show up, where we look, and what we believe about what’s possible. Every day, with every decision, we choose the story we live out.

And maybe part of that story is giving ourselves permission to stop striving to fit into everyone else’s expectations. To simply live as the person God designed us to be—fully, freely, unapologetically.

Because sometimes, the most faith-filled thing we can do is to just be who we are… the world will adjust.

So today, I’m choosing to keep my face to the sun—to focus on the light, the growth, and the God who writes a better story than I ever could.

Because the shadows only have power when we turn away from the Light.