More on this book
Community
Kindle Notes & Highlights
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.”
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. We can be brave because we were always meant to be brave. 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.
may not have felt brave, but I was taking brave steps in obedience to God.
I’m trying to list as many options as possible, but you know the thing God is doing in your life better than I do. It’s time to get quiet before the Lord and ask Him what it looks like for you to live a life of courage today. Just start.
Sin and shame entered our world, and Jesus paid for it with His life. See, your struggle to separate truth from lies is something that every human wrestles with. It’s hard to believe truth if your mind is flooded with confusion and false stories. And Satan is the one who is always trying to kill, steal, and destroy (John 10:10).
It’s hard to believe truth if your mind is flooded with confusion and false stories.
It’s a vicious cycle that can be treated only by a heaping dose of truth—the real stuff. That’s why I love the Bible.
praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well.
Here’s something I know: I shouldn’t believe in me, at least not in the way those commercials say I should. I’ve been me long enough to know that I am not someone to be believed in. I mess up. I hurt people’s feelings. I care too much about some things and not enough about others. I get lost. I am not perfect. And I don’t want to pour my hope or trust into someone as faulty as me. So while I’m grateful for what the TV ads are saying, I don’t think it is totally true.
believe in the me God made and in the me God can make. I believe He made me on purpose and didn’t make any mistakes when it came to my creation. That makes me feel brave. And that is the place where I find my courage—knowing that while I am making mistakes, I am not a mistake. That is where you can find your courage
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.
Time to chuck them. Stop yourself, identify the lie, and say the truth in its place.
It’s not that you have earned the love of God or that you deserve love. God loves us, even though we don’t deserve
You haven’t earned this love; it’s a gift. We don’t attempt to beat the lies and believe the truth and love ourselves because we are perfect. We do it because in our imperfections, God loves us deeply and has made us just the way He wanted. You can speak kindly to yourself because God loves you deeply because you are His. Speak kindly to yourself, as Jesus speaks kindly to you. Those words have power, and if you believe them, you will be brave.
I wish that was just a problem I had when I was a kid, but it’s not. At times I still have to be confident in the person I want to be and what I want to do, even if it isn’t cool or popular.
Giving yourself permission to do the thing you want to do, to like whatever you want 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.
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.
humans in the first place? Look at Isaiah 43:7: “Everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made” (ESV, emphasis
short Hebrew 101 lesson does have a point. We look at the original language of the text to see, according to Scripture, that we were made especially by God to promote Him, glorify Him, and worship Him.
unique. We each have to be brave in our own ways. The painting of your life is a masterpiece that will never be replicated, and there’s a brave brush to use in this painting that will change everything for God’s glory and for your good. Maybe you want to move to another country to live and share about Jesus. My friend, that is brave. It really is. But so is being a stay-at-home mom. And so is being a cable technician. So is being an author or a baseball player or a chef. Courage looks different for each of
Hold up the shield of faith that you hold over your heart, meant to protect you from the arrows of the enemy.
your eyes on Jesus, who is the “pioneer and perfecter” of your faith (Hebrews 12:2 NIV).
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. You will hear the truth of who God says you are much more clearly, like how you are dearly loved.
You are secure. Romans 8 says that you are free from condemnation. You are significant! Ephesians 2 says that you are God’s workmanship, seated with Jesus in the heavenly realms.
But I am not going to stop hoping and dreaming. I think there is something really powerful about being smack in the middle of the unwanted season and being able to look you right in the eyeball (which I would if I could) and say, “God has not forgotten you. Your life and your dreams are important to God.”
that I am going to make it just fine. And if you are single and want to be married, or wishing you could have kids, or wanting a better job or home or city, I want you to know that you are going to make
