Are You Brave Enough?

SEPTEMBER 8, 2015 Are You Brave Enough? NICOLE UNICE

"Immediately he spoke to them and said, ‘Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.’" Mark 6:50b (NIV)

I had my arm around my 9-year-old daughter, Cameron, while we watched The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe together. The spunk and transparency of the youngest character, Lucy, reminded me of Cameron, and I squeezed her a little, hoping she noticed the same.

At one point in the movie, Lucy speaks with Father Christmas, and he asks her if she is ready for the war that will take place in Narnia. He looks down at her and asks her somberly, "Can you be brave?"

Lucy smiles up at him and answers, "I think I could be brave enough."

I had no idea how important that moment would become.

The words brave enough kindled a flame in my soul as I began to think about all the ways I wanted to be brave enough: brave enough to speak up, brave enough to be graceful, brave enough to forgive.

I might not be facing a war of Narnian proportions, but what if my daily life still required bravery? "Brave enough for today" became a sticky phrase in my head — an inspiration for the morning and a personal challenge when I didn’t want to do the hard thing.

I found myself wanting to be brave enough for my job. Brave enough for my family. Brave enough to mother well and brave enough to make good choices in my marriage.

When Cameron struggled later that year with an injury, I wanted to be brave enough for her. But what I learned along the way was I would never have enough courage on my own to face life without fear. I needed a courage that came from outside myself. My self-manufactured bravery always fell short.

In the Bible, Jesus uses the word courage in very specific ways. The original word means something like "be encouraged" or "take heart." The phrase take courage is used four times in the Gospels, always by Jesus Himself. In each instance, Jesus begins with a command: "Take courage!" And then Jesus offers the essence of Himself to the person as the way courage will be enacted.

In one account, He says, ‘Take heart!" and then offers forgiveness of sin. In another, He says "Be encouraged!" and then offers healing. And when He walks out on water in the middle of the night, terrifying His disciples, He offers a simple exhortation, "Take courage. It is I!"

No matter what you need to be brave enough for today, Jesus offers to meet you there with what only He can do. He offers you forgiveness when you fail and grace that energizes you to try again. He offers you healing when you hurt and strength that replaces your weakness. He offers you his presence, giving confidence that comes fully from who He is — not who you are.

When you have Jesus, you have all the courage you need, for whatever you may face.

TRUTH FOR TODAY:
Matthew 9:2b, "When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the man, ‘Take heart, son; your sins are forgiven.’" (NIV)

Matthew 9:22, "Jesus turned and saw her. ‘Take heart, daughter,’ he said, ‘your faith has healed you.’ And the woman was healed at that moment." (NIV)

RELATED RESOURCES:
Nicole Unice’s new book, Brave Enough: Getting Over Our Fears, Flaws, and Failures to Live Bold and Free, and 8-week DVD curriculum are available now!

Hear more from Nicole on her book, and find more encouragement and Real. Honest. Truth. from Nicole’s blog.

It's all in the Language!

Have you ever noticed that your language can make you feel different? It almost comes down to a state of mind.

I have the bad habit of saying “I have to do this” or “I have to do that”. One day I really heard myself and it sounded awful. I think it was when I was going to pick up some of my grandchildren from school. I thought to myself, that doesn’t sound very nice. It sounded like a burden and it wasn’t. How blessed I am to have grand children and be able to pick them up from school.

The more I thought about this the more I realized how often I talked like that. As Oprah would say, it was an “Ah-ha” moment. From that point on I have tried to watch how I say things. To be honest it is uncomfortable for me to pay attention to this little problem. However, considering how many times a day I did that, even just to myself or in my mind, it was a lot.

I have always been a deep thinker (or so my Aunt says). We have all heard about the power of the spoken word. How it can build up or tear down emotions. I’m sure we all try and be careful how we speak to others. So why not be careful how we speak to ourselves?

Colossians 3:8
But now you yourselves are to put off all these: anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language out of your mouth.

Well negative talk might not be filthy language, but it sure isn’t helpful. It doesn’t do anything but bring me down, so why do it.

Just making a few changes like this makes a difference in my life. First off I don’t have to do anything. No one is going to come in my house and get me if I don’t do something. Now, my husband, family and friends might not be too happy if I don’t do the things I am responsible for, but my life doesn’t depend on it. Plus I am sort of a rebel kind of person, so I only like to do things that I want to do.

Changes I have made are making a difference. I don’t feel so weighted down with things if I use different language when speaking to others or myself. Now I would just say something like, “I’m picking up the kids”. There is no negative sound in that sentence.

Do I accomplish this every day? Of course I don’t, but I can tell you this, it helps my attitude as I go through my list of things to do each day or week. If making this little change in my language improves my attitude, then count me in.