Our fear can become our brave!
He couldn’t sleep the night before. It was his first day of Summer Sports Camp and he was really excited.
We gave him a pep talk and reminded him that he was there to have fun and learn new sports. We filled him with all the encouragement a little 4 year old could take. You see he is our child who is the least athletically interested but he begged us to let him go and we did.
I got him ready for his outdoor fun and then he looked at me with his big brown eyes and said, “I’m scared. I don’t want to go.” My heart broke when I saw the real fear in his precious little face. I continued to get him ready and I said a few silent prayers asking God to give me wisdom in knowing how to encourage him.
As I finished up, something popped into my head and I ran into the kitchen to find a permanent marker. I wrote something on his hand so he could remember that he’s got this. I instructed him to look at his hand when he starts feeling afraid.
It said, “Be strong and brave. Do not be afraid. For I am with you.” Joshua 1:9
It’s the verse that I have been sharing with him since he was 2 years old. Every night he would get up in the middle of the night with nightmares and I would share this verse to him and we would declare it unto the Lord.
He would say in his cute little fierce toddler voice, “I’m not afraid. I’m strong and brave. God is with me.”
The moment fear becomes brave
Our fear becomes our brave the minute we look at in the eye and declare, “I am strong and brave. I will not be afraid. For God is with me.”
Fear gives birth to brave when we take that one small step towards it and declare His truth.
I want to encourage you this week as we wrap up our Brave Moms Strong Families Challenge to Find Your Brave for that one little thing. Don’t start big that always sets us up for failure. Baby step your way into brave. I encourage you to write down 1 baby step Brave thing you can do this week.
But don’t think this baby step is insignificant.
Baby steps pave the way to Brave Big steps.
God calls us to be good stewards of what He has given us. So maybe your baby step this week can be to sing out loud at church and not just lip sync because you’re embarrassed by your voice. Or maybe it can be to call that friend and have a play date.
Those same feelings of shame came over me when my friend asked me how I was going to be brave. Sure I had things I knew needed attention, brave first steps waiting in the wings, but putting words to them felt too vulnerable. Like I was exposing my most vulnerable secrets to the world, sharing my Achilles heel with an imaginary enemy. Because the fact is, the areas that need brave attention are the areas I want to protect. The areas that have the potential to hurt me deepest if I share them.” ~Mandy Ariato
Let’s stop protecting those areas and move forward in confidence because He is our Father and we are His precious daughters.
Brave is contagious
Here’s the beautiful thing–brave is contagious. You will feel empowered when you conquer that fear and your kids will see it. Not only will they see it they will remember. I have brave parents and though I struggle with being brave at times I know I can move forward in faith because I remember God’s faithfulness and my mom’s courage to wade through her fears.
Her example to this day gives me courage.
Day 5 Challenge
Write down your one brave for this week and take baby steps towards conquering it. Don’t compare your brave with someone else. We are wonderfully and uniquely made and my brave will be different from your brave. Then find one verse you’re going to remind yourself of when the fear starts to sneak in.
Remember this truth, my dear sisters–
“Greater is He who is in You than he who is in the world. ” 1 John 4:4
You’ve got this because He is in you!
Do me a favor and make “brave” contagious so call a friend and tell them your one brave thing then write it on our FB group with hashtag #OneBraveThing.
I’d love to walk with you to discover your brave. I’m a certified Christian life coach and my desire is to encourage you in your one brave thing whether it has to do with mothering, personal life goals or spiritual goals. Here’s my information for life coaching and speaking.
This is Day 5 of 6 (full schedule of posts) for our Brave Moms Strong Families Challenge that I’m doing with fabulous blogger Jenny at Night Howells blog! Join in on the fun HERE to get encouragement and free printables directly to your inbox.
