For years, Briana Nikolic felt trapped by a prison of fear. On the outside, she was doing everything right. But on the inside, she was lost.
“I appeared independent and strong and ‘we women got this,’ but I was battling constant fear.”
Briana had deep-seeded beliefs about herself that stemmed from a horrific experience in her childhood.
“When I was 3 1/2 years old, I watched my dad die of a heroin overdose. My mom was an overnight nurse, so my dad took care of me in the evening. I remember going to put in my favorite VHS tape, and he walked out of the bathroom with blood streaming and staining his clothes. I grabbed tissues to try and help wipe up the blood. When I knew he was gone I was shattered. I felt ruined”
Briana’s mom and dad were high school sweethearts, but he got addicted to heroin a few years into their marriage. When he died, Briana’s family thought she was too little to understand, and told her he died of a heart attack.
“For so long I was so angry. I had all this bitterness, anger, jealousy and envy in my heart. I didn’t know how to deal with those emotions.”
Briana began to understand that she was angry at God for taking away the important men in her life. The anger and fear followed her into her own marriage. When she first started dating her now husband, he told her he wanted to pursue a dangerous career in law enforcement.
“When he first told me about the position he wanted, my response was ‘I can just pray that God will change his heart.”
Briana’s fear of losing another important man in her life manifested as control and manipulation in her marriage. She held her husband back from pursuing the desire God had put inside his heart. She felt pressure to work her business and make a ton of money so her husband wouldn’t have to work.
That drive to build her business brought Briana to live training event, First Steps To Success, but she went home with much more than she expected. She realized she had not been honoring and respecting her husband and his role as the head of their household. Instead of asking God to change her husband’s heart, Briana found her own heart was changed.
Within two years of her first event, Briana’s husband landed his dream job.
“I am no longer manipulative and controlling in my marriage. I have been released from so much fear, and I am a much more respectful and honoring wife.”
Their family has paid off $21,000 of debt, Briana has been on three mission trips in a single year, their marriage is stronger and more passionate than ever and they are expecting their first baby in a few months.
“I can confidently say now that I hold the keys to freedom! I have discovered the tools and resources to unlock myself from the prison of fear and doubt. I have grown into a more confident and trusting daughter of my Father in heaven, and I’ve taken the lid off of what He is able to do through me.”
