By Evelyn Winston // Empowerment // EEW Magazine Online

If you know there is something you’re supposed to be doing with your life – and you feel truly called to it – you cannot ever let fear hold you back. Either you will step into the arena and fight for your dreams or gaze from the sidelines at those who dared to dream and do.

This spring, in a moving address, Taraji Henson shared inspiring words that bear repeating about the power of faith, after she received an honorary doctorate from her alma mater, Howard University, at its 154th commencement ceremony.

Quoting the great Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Henson told graduates, “Faith is taking the first step even when you don’t see the whole staircase.”

The 51-year-old whose TPH Entertainment recently inked a new overall deal with BET Studios continued, “It just means your faith is bigger than that fear” – and she knows a thing or two about fear.

The mental health advocate and founder of Boris Lawrence Henson Foundation has been open about her struggles with anxiety and depression. Yet, she refuses to let them stop her from going after the divine destiny that is hers.

“Fear is there to distract you. That’s its only purpose. It makes you waste time,” said Henson, who, under her new agreement with BET Studios will act as partner with the venture that supplies content to Paramount Plus, Showtime, CBS, Nickelodeon, BET Plus and BET, as well as select third-party platforms.

Even with all her busyness, she consistently takes time to pour into other dreamers striving to achieve the levels of success meant for them. And one of the biggest hurdles to overcome is fear, because it paralyzes you and prevents you from moving forward.

“Fear makes you spin your wheels trying to figure out if you belong. Our faith is not static,” said the Academy Award, Emmy-nominated, and Golden Globe-winning actor, writer, director and producer. “It’s a moving powerful force if we take it out of the background and put it in the center of our lives.” 

So, how can Henson, who is currently in production on Blitz Bazawule’s “The Color Purple,” where she will star as Shug Avery, remain so courageous?

The answer is simple: she puts her total confidence in the Lord.

The multihyphenate once told Beliefnet this about her faith: “It is everything. That’s who I am. God lives within me. I meditate. I pray. I’m nothing without God. So, I just ask that He use me in my work.”

This is no doubt the key to her success.

If you want to rise high, take it from Taraji and lean into your faith which Hebrews 11:1 says is “the certainty of things hoped for, a proof of things not seen.”

Step out on the intangible to see tangible results.