Are You Brave Enough?
When’ve been learning about being brave from 3 guys in the Old Testament. If you missed the first post, you can start here.
I wonder if like me, when you see your child studying for a test, all you can think is “I’m so glad I am done with school!”
Passing tests isn’t just a school thing. It’s a life thing. Every day, our lives are full of tests, some small and some huge. I feel like I have been in one test after another every since it turned January 1st on the calendar!
Whether or not we get to move forward, mature and experience the blessings God has in store for us has to do with how well we do in those tests.
In the lives of our children, their character is tested every day:
When her sister takes her straightener, again, how does she react? It’s a love test.
Valentine’s Day comes and goes without any one coming after her. There’s a joy test.
When she sees the girl sitting alone. What does she do? It’s a kindness test.
These tests, these choices, when added up, determine the girl she is becoming. Because each and every day, she is becoming. Becoming a girl who is loving, joyful, kind, gorgeous or a girl who is merciless, miserable or mean.
Who are you becoming?
To become the one God intended us to be, the one reaching her fullest potential through Him and His power, takes bravery.
How old were Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego at this point, at this time when they are saying they would rather die than conform? With that type of courage, you might guess they’re pretty old, right?
The Bible doesn’t say exactly, but from the context clues, it would indicate they were young, possibly younger than teenagers. Age is no issue when it comes to bravery and beauty. They were following God, passing the tests of character and becoming the best they could become.
Now, it’s is your time.
Now is your girl’s time.
We’re not literally facing death by fire like our 3 brave guys, but daily we face a fork in the road. A place where we decide.
Who are we going to be?
Like the brave ones, are we investing our time, energy and emotions in God? Becoming the girl and woman He wants us to become; reaching our fullest potential?
Or are we constantly changing, like the styles every spring, trying to figure out – what do they want? What does that guy want? What does the crowd want?
It’s time to become the one who understands that the perfect Guy, Jesus, is already absolutely crazy about us. The One who already loves you perfectly, unconditionally, just the way you are.
It’s time to be done. Be brave enough to be done investing all your energy in the wrong place. And instead focus on becoming the one.
I’m not talking “girl power” here. I’m not into that. What I am saying is every girl, every woman, should break out of the cultural definition of beautiful and break into God’s definition of beauty so she can reach her fullest potential.
YOUR fullest potential. To discover and hone the very best parts of you; the true you. The absolutely gorgeous because you are comfortable in my own skin you.
And to do this, you must be brave!
To be the one who finds gossip repulsive and kindness exhilarating, you must be brave!
To break out of “normal” on the weekend, to stop turning your back on the wisdom you have, you’re going to have to be brave!
We can be the one who finds the courage to listen to wisdom instead of to our heart.
Yes, I said don’t listen to your heart. Your heart will lie to you – just listen to Jeremiah 17:9 “The heart is hopelessly dark and deceitful, a puzzle that no one can figure out.” The Message
Instead, listen to the One who loves you and will give you the bravery you need to be the best you you can be and teach your girl to be brave too!
Be brave. Be brave enough to depend on God for your beauty to come from Him. Not from your make-up bag, closet or scale. Gorgeous is more than a face in the mirror. Gorgeous comes when God’s glory is glowing in you; flowing out of you.
Do you have a girl or know a girl you want to be brave? Brave enough to live out her full potential and glorify God in her own skin?
Invest in her life and give her “Magnetic: Becoming the Girl He Wants”. Magnetic empowers young women to move past fixating on the temporary of now in order to reach for the best of her future!
“Listen to wisdom instead of your heart.” I love that! Thank you for this. I have 2 girls and am smack dab in the middle of learning how to train them. What a great way to be brave! Thank you! Here’s my post for #livefreeThursday http://www.micahmaddox.com/the-bravest-thing/ It was a joy to drop by today! Love & Blessings, Lynne.
This is so helpful! My girls are still little, but boy do they have BIG feelings. We are working on turning those feelings over to God and finding the thankful in the everyday right now. This is great!
Amen and amen and amen again! Excellent post. Valuable lesson to teach our girls in the midst of a noisy world.
Lynn, I loved your post! Reminds me who I am in Christ! Makes me think over and over again about my identity… I’m no defined by culture, but by the image of my Creator! I don’t have kids, but I know God gives me the chance to talk to other woman about their identity in Christ. That’s the transformation He is doing in me, since I lived so many years in my past believing I am someone, who I wasn’t. Blessings to you and thanks for blessing me so much!
Love,
Tayrina from TGAWrites / I’m linkin up with you in #livefreeThursday.
His truth is applies to every person and every age. Thanks so much, Tayrina!