Only Brave For Jesus

Out of the mouths of babes comes truth.  My then four-year-old, a child with a heart of gold had said, “Mommy, you have to obey God.  I don’t want you to be swallowed up by a big fish like Jonah.”  Yeah….me neither, Bud.  Sheesh.  Children keep it real, don’t they?!

I am not brave.  I was scared, but I wanted to obey Jesus.  Without doubt, I was certain He was calling me to go.  From the depths of my heart, I truly wanted to go.  It wasn’t as simple as that for me, though.  For real…I am not brave, friends.  This is sort of the understatement of my life. 

But amazing grace….the kind of grace my fears relieved…the kind we sing about?  That grace overwhelmed my heart.  His peace was louder than any fear in my heart.  I decided that I could be brave…but only for Jesus.  That’s basically my motto even now.  I’m only brave for Jesus.  

I’m not being stubborn, actually.  Here’s the raw truth.  I cannot be brave unless He asks me to be brave for Him and I know exactly why.

I had been in Haiti, my first visit to another country for about six heart-changing, life-transforming days when I finally realized what had happened in my life.  I had not been brave at all.  Jesus had covered my fear with a blanket of peace. I knew my silly fear was present but I honestly couldn’t feel the fear.  {I did actually feel a tiny bit frightened driving up a mountain in a land cruiser packed with people…no guard rails in Haiti, I tell you.  Still, that level of fear was wildly insignificant compared to my usual state of anxiety and irrational worry.}  The peace of God had covered my fear.  Do you know what that is like for a scaredy-cat like yours truly?!  It was absolutely freeing.  Sitting in a room of my team mates that evening, I told them,

“I have never been thankful to be afraid but I am now that I have experienced the freedom from my fears.”

Jesus is a real Comforter.  His peace is so real.  I wonder if perhaps I’d never truly depended on Him with my whole heart before my first adventure to Haiti.  When all else was stripped away…when my usual comforts were absent…it was there that I finally.  It was there that I asked God to carry me through my fear.  He did.

‘Twas grace that taught my heart to fear.

…and grace my fears relieved. 

How precious did that grace appear the hour I first believed.

Friends, we can follow Jesus without hesitation because He will carry us.  He is faithful.  Only Jesus can take fear and turn it to courage.

So I can be brave, but only brave for Jesus.  When I am weak, He is strong.  Our God is faithful.

From my heart to yours,

~Courtney