<\/p>\n
Ashley Tankard always dreamed of performing on \u201cAmerican Idol,\u201d using her God-given voice to entertain and inspire.<\/p>\n
But Tankard also had a major barrier to overcome: crippling anxiety. In fact, she spent years fighting fear, and it impacted virtually every facet of her life. From the inability to speak out in school as a child to the paralyzing worries she faced in her professional life, everything was tainted.<\/p>\n
All of that changed in 2025, though, when Tankard diligently listened to God\u2019s call for her life. Still mired in worry, she had long felt the Lord prompting her to share her testimony in book form. She had started the process years ago, but her call to complete the project only intensified as 2025 came to a close.<\/p>\n
Tankard, who recently released a book about her journey, \u201cFear Didn\u2019t Win,\u201d knew the Lord wanted her to complete the project before Jan. 1, so she set out on a mission to do just that. Still unsure how her story would end, she continued on a journey of trust amid uncertainty.<\/p>\n
\u201cI first heard the Lord speak to me about this book when I was 18 years old, and \u2026 I did not have \u2026 an intimate and close relationship with Him back then, but \u2026 I actually knew His voice,\u201d she said. \u201cSo I knew that was Him telling me to write this book or start this book, and I never really knew the end result of what the book would be.\u201d<\/p>\n
One of the hallmarks of Tankard\u2019s story is her passion for music. In the years before she felt called to write her book, Tankard sought to live out her dream of auditioning for \u201cAmerican Idol.\u201d At age 15, she recalled trying out for the very first time \u2014 an experience that ended in rejection.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor seven years, I auditioned for the producers multiple times with this fear and this thought of \u2026 \u2018I don\u2019t know how I\u2019m gonna even get in front of the judges if I make it,’\u201d Tankard said. \u201cI was still auditioning because it was just a dream that was in my heart for a very long time. So I auditioned for seven years straight, multiple times every single season.\u201d<\/p>\n
When Tankard was 22, she auditioned for the 15th time and finally earned the right to perform for the \u201cAmerican Idol\u201d judges. Soon, fear \u2014 her familiar foe \u2014 came sweeping through, with Tankard worried not only about flying to the audition but also about standing in front of some of the biggest acts in music.<\/p>\n
Listen to the latest\u00a0episode\u00a0of \u201cQuick Start\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cIt was actually one of the hardest things I\u2019ve ever done,\u201d she said, noting she was \u201con the verge of a panic attack\u201d as she prepared to sing for Katy Perry and the other show judges. \u201cI kind of just went through the entire audition process, like in a full-blown panic attack.\u201d<\/p>\n Despite struggling, Tankard said she was elated to have made it through the triggering moment and was finally able to see herself on TV.<\/p>\n \u201cTo be able to actually get through the audition and make it to Hollywood was \u2026 one of my biggest accomplishments,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Despite that accomplishment, the fear didn\u2019t go away and she continued to struggle even with basic social situations. Flashing forward to 2025, Tankard struggled with crippling fear even as she followed God toward the finish line on writing her book \u2014 until a friend said something that transformed her understanding.<\/p>\n \u201cIn November of 2025, I was kind of in a place in my life where I wanted to, quote, unquote \u2018Get my life together,\u2019 but not in a way of, I was like doing bad in life, but just in a way of walking in my calling and walking in my purpose,\u201d Tankard said. \u201cSo I called up a friend and basically was trying to get advice on certain areas of my life.\u201d<\/p>\n Tankard told this friend the reason she wasn\u2019t doing some of what she wanted to do was because of fear \u2014 something she felt she simply couldn\u2019t get rid of throughout her life.<\/p>\n \u201cI actually ended up sharing with him that I was diagnosed with an anxiety disorder when I was 17 years old,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd what he told me was that fear and anxiety is actually a spirit that comes from the enemy, and after I had that conversation with him, it kind of struck something in me.\u201d<\/p>\n Throughout her life, Tankard had assumed fear was merely mental and hadn\u2019t spent much time pondering its potential spiritual elements. This was quite an interesting realization, as intense anxiety started when she was just 7 years old and expanded in subsequent years until she spoke with this friend and started to think a bit differently about it.<\/p>\n After Tankard\u2019s friend discussed the spiritual nature of fear and anxiety, Tankard started talking to another Christian friend about these issues \u2014 and then something else happened. Ironically, that very night, Tankard\u2019s church tackled the same issue during a service she attended.<\/p>\n \u201cI ended up going to church that same night, and the pastor that was preaching that night ended up having like an altar call for some people that were dealing with crippling fear and anxiety,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Tankard answered that call, was prayed over, but said she initially \u201cdidn\u2019t really feel any shift.\u201d When she got home that night, though, she decided to openly rebuke the fear she had allowed to overtake her for so long.<\/p>\n \u201cI kind of had this out loud dialogue with the enemy and kind of was just telling him, \u2018I\u2019m done letting you rule my life. You have no power over my mind, no power over me anymore.’\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAfter that, I kind of went to sleep, woke up, and long story short, I was literally completely free from fear and anxiety,\u201d Tankard said.<\/p>\n It was a freedom she never could have expected. After so many years of dealing with a diagnosis of anxiety, she assumed she would spend the rest of her life trying to cope with these struggles. Now, she said she\u2019s walking in true liberty.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is just a very overwhelming feeling \u2026 walking in freedom \u2026 and it\u2019s still very new,\u201d she said. \u201cSix months ago, I definitely would not have been able to freely talk about any of this, like over like an interview, just because I would\u2019ve been afraid of \u2026 being honest and I would\u2019ve been afraid \u2026 to say the wrong thing.\u201d<\/p>\n Tankard continued, \u201cBut \u2026 now I\u2019m \u2026 an open book because I know that God delivered me and I know it\u2019s gonna help someone else.\u201d<\/p>\n What\u2019s perhaps most interesting is that Tankard said she felt a strong sense from God that she needed to finish writing \u201cFear Didn\u2019t Win\u201d \u2014 but that prompting came a week before her deliverance from anxiety. Watch her tell the incredible story and grab your copy of the book\u00a0here.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Ashley Tankard always dreamed of performing on \u201cAmerican Idol,\u201d using her God-given voice to entertain and inspire. But Tankard also had a major barrier to overcome: crippling anxiety. In fact, she spent years fighting fear, and it impacted virtually every facet of her life. From the inability to speak out in school as a child<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16732,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[185,5231,5233,5232,301,238,3243,489,5225],"class_list":["post-16731","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-jesus","tag-american","tag-contestant","tag-crippling","tag-deliverance","tag-fear","tag-gods","tag-idol","tag-reveals","tag-supernatural"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16731","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=16731"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16731\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/16732"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16731"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16731"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16731"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}