You wanna know my biggest fear? No seriously, this will seem so small and petty, but I am not brave enough to do it… debate. It is a nightmare for me to express how I feel, or what I know, about any given topic. The thing is, I get all emotional and then I am a blubbering ball of shame and stupidity. You know red nose, tears in eyes, shaking hands… all because I feel inadequate. It seems that everyone I am surrounded by, ALL of them, love to debate. Recently when Tom, Todd’s business partner, mentioned he wanted to discuss a scripture I posted on FB I lost it. Ummm, nope! Yet, when he came into the office, the first thing he said was “let’s talk about that scripture”. So we talked, and, lo and behold I knew what I was talking about! Whoop! Give this girl a carb-free brownie! Super proud of myself! My, my, my… maybe I’ve been growing. The biggest debate I stay away from? Politics. It can get so heated (or passionate), that it feels like an attack, and I JUST CAN’T. Please don’t make me do this. This includes posting anything political on social media, especially Facebook. I do not dare. And that’s okay! My courage can be found in other areas.
The definition of courage is being strong in the face of adversity, fear, and pain. Even the Bible says to be courageous! God knew we would have some rough stuff to get through. Most of the time we think of our first responders, military, people overcoming huge obstacles in life like cancer, but we also need courage in the little things. Sometimes it is self-inflicted and sometimes it is life-inflicted. It seems I am, at times, my own worst enemy. You too? That’s good to know as I wouldn’t want to be alone in this! Getting started on something new is rough for me. I start, stop, start again, stop… it’s a cycle. Letting fear control the situation when there is nothing to be fearful of. C.L. Lewis says that courage is not simply one of the virtues, but the form of every virtue at the testing point. AT. ITS. TESTING. POINT. So whatever you are going through means you are being tested. Yay! I love tests! NOT!
The word "courage" is related to the French word "Coeur," which means "heart." This is a two-fold deal when it comes to growth. Heart is the meaning behind whatever you are doing such as “getting to the heart of the matter”, or, your heart in the center of your chest which is where your wisdom, warmth, and ease flow. That’s courage. From the Heart. It doesn’t mean being fearless, it means you move forward in spite of it. It means seeking answers from God in spite of how we feel at the moment.
Guess what? Chicken butt. Just kidding. That’s a joke Todd told all the kids and now he says it to the grands. He then follows up with You know why? Chicken Thigh. You know when? A big fat hen. He thinks he’s funny. Courage doesn’t just happen. It wasn’t built into our DNA. We talk about finding courage like it’s something we can search for and put it into its proper place. It’s not a knick-knack that we can just sit on a shelf and be happy we have found the perfect vase for our living room. It would be nice if it were that simple. Reality is, we are practicing courage, not finding it. It should be created as a daily and consistent practice of walking into the fire of what causes fear. We become forged in the fire as a braver even more courageous self. You do realize that we are to seek the Holy Spirit to assist us in this, right? It is so much easier to practice courage when you start there. When you are practicing courage instead of searching for some lost part of you, you’re there looking at your life, and asking yourself, “where do I want to go to next? What does it require? What do I really want?” and asking God to lead you there without fear. He has the plan for your life and He is happy to let you know what it is if you would just ask Him. Trust me, God and I have gone round and round on the plans for my life. He will win.
This is what I do to practice walking in courage.
1. Understanding Who is in Control: you cannot control everything in your world… so focus only on what is yours and leave the rest to God.
2. Choose joy. It is a choice. The Joy of the Lord is our strength. Get praise and worship and dance your hiney off! This will bring joy. Trust me.
3. Ditch the drama. When change happens, fear sets in then we get all dramatic. You know like the cat in the video sliding down the stairs… Yep, that’s us sliding down those stairs like life is over. Acknowledge the fear, realize you may not be fearless in that moment.
4. Check-In. Is the fear because you are about to do something stupid? Is the Holy Spirit saying to you “hey chica let’s step back before you do something you shouldn’t”?
5. Pray. Have a conversation with the Lord daily. It’s a relationship – I do not mean to sit in a corner for 2 hours with some big long drawn out holier than thou prayer. I mean, TALK to Him like He is your friend.
6. Read His Word. Need to practice courage? Let’s dig deep into the Word to see what these people did. I mean check out Queen Esther? My goodness, she was brave!
Finding courage isn’t about something outside yourself, seeking the world for answers. Practicing courage is about searching yourself from within and seeking God’s guidance in this matter. Turn off all the static of the outside world. You know the stuff I’m talking about… The “but what if I fail” or “I look terrible” or “I wish I could be more like her”… Whatever experience you are going through, it will end. Oh, it doesn’t seem like it. You wished it would get better or easier, and if it’s going to, could it just hurry up and do it already? There will come a time when this is a distant memory for you. How do you want to remember it?
Do you want to remember being a flopsy mopsy or do you want to remember yourself as the princess warrior you are? You get to decide.
Comments