100 Days to Brave: Devotions for Unlocking Your Most Courageous Self

by Annie F. Downs

Courage is doing things even when you’re scared. Being brave isn’t something that happens when you’re not scared anymore. Brave people don’t stop hearing the whispers of fear. They hear the whispers but take action anyway. Being brave is hearing that voice of fear in your head, but saying, “Okay, but the truth is, God made me on purpose and for a purpose.”

So I step out, full of fear, but trusting that God is on the other side in new and wonderful ways. And so far? He always is.

Brave people don’t stop hearing the whispers of fear. They hear the whispers but take action anyway.

Seeing other people be brave makes me want to be brave too. It’s a domino effect.

That’s why we have to start. That’s why we have to go first. That’s why we have to be brave—so that others will be inspired to be brave along with us.

It is scary to be who you’re meant to be. It doesn’t feel easy because it’s not. But we were made for this. Like today’s scripture says, we have holy work. Why be brave? Because when we’re brave enough to share the God stories in our lives, it changes the people around us. It changes us to share them.

I may not have felt brave, but I was taking brave steps in obedience to God.

When you see brave, say so.

It’s hard to believe truth if your mind is flooded with confusion and false stories.

You hear a lie, you treat it like truth, and it begins to define you, like a label. And then you act out of that label.

There is so much power when you begin to understand that you are who God says you are, not who other people say you are or who you believe you are.

My insecurities are quieter (not gone, but quieter), my worries are lighter (not weightless, but lighter), and my heart is fuller because I know how God feels about me.

While I am making mistakes, I am not a mistake.

I know my tendencies and fears, and I also know my gifts and hopes. It’s where those meet that I often find God cheering for me to make the brave choice.

For someone like me, who is pretty good at messing up and feeling guilty, it’s really, really good to know that I can’t make God love me any more or any less.

One of the truest ways to glorify God with your feet is to lead.

But there is no substitute for the brain God has given you. Your mind is yours alone.

Your mind is a container, but it’s a fragile container. So being brave means taking measures to protect it. Things are going to fill it—that’s just the nature of your mind. It’s up to you to decide what gets to fill that container.

(Trust the sparks, friend; trust the sparks.)

Friend, stop being mean to yourself. Seriously. If you are going to be the person who does the brave things God is calling you to do, speaking life and developing beautiful things in others with your words, it begins with doing that for yourself.

Stop yourself, identify the lie, and say the truth in its place.

Growing up, I wish I knew that I could like anything I wanted to like.

That as you grow to love yourself more and more, you will feel brave enough to love the things you love instead of altering them because you think that’s what it will take to be accepted.

I like the idea that God only made me once.

The short answer he gave is that the original is work, but fun. Any copies, exact or modified, are boring, if not mindless. Creating is just problem solving, and once you solve the original problem, it’s like you could train bright monkeys to do the replicating. (That’s a quote. “Bright monkeys.” Man, I miss Joe.) The question is not unlike asking a chef to create the most special French onion soup in the world and, after he or she has succeeded beyond any expectations, to keep making it every day.

God made you once. You were worth the work that first time. Then He threw away that mold because one of you is enough for Him. You’re enough. You are the sacred painting, the original.

God created us for His glory. Hang with me for a little Old Testament lesson. The word create in the original Hebrew is bara. When this particular word is used, God is the only subject—He does all the work.

Only He can create in this particular way. We may be able to create a painting or create chaos, but as humans, we cannot bara. So when God made you, He did something that only He can do, and He did that for His glory.

If we are each as unique as the Bible says we are, then our calls to courage are each equally unique.

God made you on purpose and unique. God has called you to be brave. And God will equip you to do it.

Sometimes we avoid asking God things because we fear what the answer will be.

Even when you feel alone, you actually aren’t.

The Bible is always your best resource when you want to hear from God.

Are you brave enough to pray and believe that God hears you and changes things? Are you brave enough to believe with your whole heart that God will do something miraculous? Are you brave enough to say the first words to Him after you’ve been silent for a while?

(You know you have an enemy, right? A legit enemy who has no good thoughts toward you or for you.)

Be sure of this: when you ask God to increase your faith, He will.

Gideon was looking at himself and his own abilities rather than looking at God and believing that He is who He says He is.

You are deeply loved and called to be courageous by a God who is perfect and perfectly trustworthy.

If you feel stuck looking at your own shortcomings, look upward to your Jesus, who is exactly who He says He is, who defeated death itself, and who empowers you to be brave.

When you spend time with God and immerse yourself in the truth of His Word, you will easily notice the lies and the things you hear in your head that aren’t really you.

And the section on singleness would be full of exclamation points because I find exclamation points to be very! encouraging! and uplifting!

“God has not forgotten you. Your life and your dreams are important to God.”

God has not forgotten you.

He knows we need dreams in pieces because we would be too scared of the whole puzzle.

He didn’t kill the bear in preparation for Goliath. He just chose to be brave at every turn—to do his job and protect the sheep.

And as the challenges grew in scope, so did David’s belief in the ways God had uniquely created him.

It wasn’t superspiritual. It was an open door.

And I wasn’t following a path lit with bright arrows. It was an open door that God led me through.

Be brave enough to walk through the doors that the Lord leads you through. Even when they are unexpected or feel scary.

fear whispered to me. And I listened.