Courage to…

“It takes courage to grow up and become who you really are.” – E.E. Cummings

About three weeks ago Chiara went on a school field trip. She was very excited about it and as we dropped her off we knew we would get an ear full of stories when we saw her later in the day. As predicted, upon picking her up we were told that she had had quite the time on the trip that day. She had been brave enough to touch two snakes and according to her teacher, she didn’t just touch them, she squeezed them, causing the handler to advise her to be gentler with the reptiles. Anyone who knows my Chiara knows that gentleness doesn’t exactly come naturally to her. As we drove home she shared her tale of the two snakes very mater-of-factly, not at all bothered by the significance of her actions that day. Ceaser and I were amazed. I thought of myself at her age. No, touching snakes would not be something I would have done then or now for that matter. As my mind wandered, I looked over at our son Caleb, a real African man in the making. With self-preservation built into his DNA, I knew that this experience was not one he would share. Like mother like son. Chiara is ANAZA, I thought, smiling to myself as we continued our drive home.

“This is my command—be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid or discouraged. For the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.” ~ Joshua 1:9 (NLT)

“For God will never give you the spirit of fear, but the Holy Spirit who gives you mighty power, love, and self-control.” ~ 2 Timothy 1:7 (TPT)

“And I will send you the Divine Encourager from the very presence of my Father. He will come to you, the Spirit of Truth, emanating from the Father, and he will speak to you about me.”~ John 15:26 (TPT)

There is a type of courage that we must all possess as ones who are born of the Spirit of God. This courage has nothing to do with whether you can stand creepy crawlies, are into extreme sports or scary movies or have absolutely no problem squeezing a snake on a regular Wednesday morning. It is courage not from ourselves but from our Encourager. Courage is defined as the ability to do something that frightens one, bravery or strength in the face of pain or grief. Whether we see it or not, we all have a measure of courage that has the potential to grow or die, depending on how we steward it. I have been thinking about this a lot lately. Stewarding courage, how this translates to our daily lives, what our role is and what role the Holy Spirit has. Let me share some of my thoughts with you.

Courage to… engage with our everyday

Have you ever felt numb? I remember how numb I felt after we lost our second baby. I was present, but not able to participate, awake but not fully alert, doing everything I could to just get through the motions and hope to God that no one noticed. It was a dark time for me. Those who know me well know that I live in my head a lot of the time, but during this time, even my mind was unsafe for me. I coasted on the peripheries, too afraid to fully engage with anything or anyone. The first few days after the ordeal, I would wake up and for a good two seconds, I thought it had all been a terrible dream. Then, as reality sunk in, the heavy grief would take its place subjecting everything to its weight. At the time I felt like I was failing. People’s reminders to stop crying or take heart, as well-meaning as they were, made me wonder if I was weak for not being able to bounce back as quickly as it seemed I should have. Today, having passed through that valley, standing firmly on the other side, I realise that what I did was not weak but a demonstration of courage. Not at all by my strength but with the help of my dear friend the One who never leaves me. I also realise that when we have experienced some level of suffering, it is almost impossible to take anything for granted. Suffering will put a lot of things into perspective, let me tell you. It will allow you to see that we are nothing and can do nothing without God. Simply getting out of bed to face the day requires great courage that is energised by the Holy Spirit. I am so thankful for His friendship and His promise to never forsake me. That being said, regardless of what we may be facing, we have a responsibility to be courageous enough to engage with the days God blesses us with. What that looks like will differ from person to person and for as long as we are alive, we get to partner with God to push back the power of death and darkness in both the mundane and significance of every day.

Courage to… dream

Did you know that your imagination is a gift? Yep, the fact that you can close your eyes and form new ideas or concepts that are not part of your present senses is a gift and a miracle of sorts. When you think of your imagination that way, you will appreciate the dreams you get to dream. It takes courage to dream and even more courage to pursue your dreams. I believe that a true appreciation of our imagination and its submission to God is what gives birth to such courage. You and I were a dream that God dared to pursue. Think about that. Makes you respect your dreams a little more, doesn’t it? What dreams have you cast aside or disregarded? What dreams did you believe were too big for you to have? What dreams are you dreaming today? The Bible tells us to write the visions down and make them plain so that those who read them may run with them. Visions are dreams we dream with our eyes open, dreams we were given by God, dreams He wants us to have courage enough to make a reality. Decide today to submit your dreams to the Holy Spirit and see what courage will rise within you.

Courage to… do what is right

The world makes right and wrong so relative. Depending on the day, depending on the situation or depending on the feelings involved. Right is right and wrong is wrong. The Bible is clear about these things. Doing what is right is not always easy. I would dare to say that the majority of the time doing what is right is a difficult task. This is why Jesus gave us the Holy Spirit. He is our guide into all truth and reminds us of what the Word of God says. He is our Helper, ready to assist us when we are faced with difficult decisions. If we take our challenges, decisions and day-to-day situations to Him in prayer, it is His joy to come alongside us, stirring up our courage and coaching us as we do the right and sometimes difficult thing.

Courage to… pursue wholeness

The fact that we are born into a fallen and broken world means that we are broken too. Coming to God through His Son Jesus makes us immediately spiritually whole, what requires process is for our souls to receive wholeness too. The Bible tells us to be transformed by the renewing of our minds. Renovating how we think, choose and feel is a lifelong work that not only takes courage it also takes discipline. If you have ever renovated space you will know what I am talking about. The work intensity is high, the dust is everywhere, the noise level is high and it always gets uglier before it can get beautiful. Ceaser and I love doing renovations as a hobby. Each time we start, I wonder why I got myself into it and then every single time we are done, I am glad we did it. Pursuing wholeness is a renovation project with a high work intensity, unearths the dust of the past, creates noise disturbances with those you love and can make you feel uglier before the beauty of God rests in its new place. Are you brave enough to do the work? You will never be alone in this work, the Holy Spirit is right with you, hard hat, sledge hammer and all.

Courage to… engage with death

When I think about dying I am not afraid. I am sometimes tempted to worry that I may die young and leave my children without a mother, but I confess the word over myself during such times. I pray God gives me and Ceaser long lives to see our great-grandchildren and to do everything He has placed on our hearts to do. I am grateful that God has promised to satisfy me with a long life and that in this land of the living, I will see and experience His goodness. Fear of death will keep us from truly living. It takes courage and faith to face physical death, but what about death in other areas of our lives? Do we have the courage to engage with those areas so that life can flow back into them? Let me explain. Look at areas in your life where you are consistently procrastinating or lazy, fearing the death of failure may be keeping you from living in the task at hand. What about areas of comparison? Is fearing the death of obscurity or the death of delayed gratification, keeping you from living out your purpose? Jesus defeated death and the grave so that we would not be afraid to engage with death. Whether it be a physical or symbolic death, let us rely on the Holy Spirit to help us face death head-on like the warriors we are.

Becoming the person God imagined and intended when He dared to pursue His dream of you will take great courage. You can do it! You can choose every day to chase the dreams God gives you. You can stay on the right road even when others may be going in the opposite direction. You can employ the discipline required to pursue wholeness in how you think, choose and feel, and when death of any kind comes knocking on your door, you can stare it down and send it packing, knowing full well that it has absolutely no power over you.