Imagine that you are standing in the middle of a valley. On the hill in front of you are thousands of enemy soldiers all shaking their fists at you and hoping you will die. On the hill behind you are thousands of your soldiers, all scratching their heads because they think that you are crazy. Right in front of you is a heavily armed, very angry giant that is twice your size, and he wants to kill you.

And there you are, all alone, with nothing in your hands except a sling and a few lousy pebbles, and the thought that keeps going through your mind is: What was I thinking?

I don't know if that's how David felt, but I know that I've felt that way a number of times. There I was just following my heart and doing what I thought God wanted me to do, and all along the path to my dream were giants, one after another.

Maybe you've also felt like that on the way to your dreams. Not only do the problems not go away, but they also seem to get bigger and bigger. You wonder if you've made a mistake, and if anyone will notice as you quietly slip away, go back to your "day job," and forget the whole thing.

People have asked me what I thought David was thinking as he stood there facing Goliath. The Bible doesn't really tell us, but I would imagine that he must have had some doubts. But we know from how the story ends that David didn't allow his doubts to stop him.

Throughout our lives we all face "giants" - problems and struggles that stand in our way. They loom large on the path to our dreams and make us feel like the difficulties we are facing are greater than the rewards we hope to gain.

But because of David's example, we have hope - not that the problems will disappear, but that the problems we're facing can be overcome. Regardless of what others may think, we know from our own experiences with God that the victory doesn't go to the one who seems strongest but to the one who is willing to believe.

What was it about David that enabled him to defeat Goliath? Jesus gave us the simple answer to that question when He said, "Have faith in God" (Mark 11:22). But as simple as that answer may seem, putting that statement into practice and living a life that exemplifies faith in God isn't always as easy as it sounds.

In order for us to overcome the "Goliaths" that we will face as we pursue our dreams, we will need to learn how to deal with our doubts. We all have them, and circumstances will continue to happen in our lives that will cause our doubts to surface and even stop us dead in our tracks. But like David, we can't allow our doubts to keep us from taking action on our dreams.

When we have doubts, thoughts that keep nagging at us and causing us to question God, we need to take control of our minds. We should fill our minds with God's promises. God spoke to Joshua and said, "Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful."

Like David, we can overcome any giant of a problem, if we will simply allow the word of God to speak to us when our minds are filling with doubts and fears. When we "meditate" on His word, it means that we repeat it to ourselves. We stop the doubts by reminding ourselves of God's faithfulness. He will never fail us and we don't have to let our doubts rob us of our dreams.