Being Brave: A 40-Day Journey to the Life God Dreams for You
Author of Being Brave:
A 40-Day Journey
to the Life God Dreams for You
The world can be a scary place, and
the fear it produces can spiral us into a sort of paralysis that keeps us from
speaking truth, living boldly, and encouraging others. To spur us back into
action, life coach Kelly Johnson has written a devotional, Being Brave: A 40-Day Journey to the Life God Dreams for You (Abingdon Press),
to help fan the flame of bravery that lies in wait within everyone.
When my youngest daughter was nine
years old, she was having a particularly tough day. She had worn me out with
her growing list of worries, complaints, aches, pains, and fears, and I told
her I didn’t know what else I could do for her. I had depleted my reservoir of mommy
tricks in my efforts to help her get to the other side of her increasing angst
and finally said to her, “Brooke, I don’t know how to help you.” She looked up
at me with tears in her eyes and said, “Mommy, I just need you to tell me that
I’m a brave soldier.” Her response to me that day began our family’s journey
with the power of naming one another brave.
When Brooke left for college a few
years ago, she wrote me a letter inviting me to step out and be brave in this
new season of my life. Through my curiosity around the word brave, I started
writing, reading, and wondering about what being brave meant for women like me
who wanted to live lives of meaning and purpose but were sometimes scared to
step out of their comfort zones. In October 2015, I offered my first Being
Brave retreat where we explored God’s vision for our life, the barriers to
fully embracing that braver life, and the part our connection to one another
played in hearing God’s voice more clearly. This book was originally created as
a resource and follow-up for my retreat attendees to go more deeply into the
concepts we covered at the retreat.
The most often repeated command in
scripture is “do not fear.” God knew we would need encouragement to help us
deal with our tendency to be sidetracked by our fears, so we find hundreds of
scriptures about fear and courage in the Bible. Every exhortation to set aside
our fear includes a reminder of God’s presence. Because of God’s presence, we
can defeat the power of fear in our life and live in the fullness of who God
made us to be. Because of God, we are brave. The theme verse for our journey is
found in 2 Timothy 1:7:
For God has
not given us a spirit of fear and timidity,
but a spirit of power, love, and
self-discipline.
Remembering we are brave reminds us of
our identity as children of God and sets us free to do the next right thing
with confidence. Naming one another BRAVE, calling out the brave soldier in
each other, is a powerful way of speaking out loud the following message of
solidarity and inspiration: “I see your struggle. I see your brave, hard work. I
believe in you, and I’m here if you need help.” When we are reminded of our
inherent, God-given courage, we can turn down the volume on the voice of our
inner critic and turn up the volume on God’s voice. Remembering we are brave
helps us tap into the part of ourselves that is creative and resourceful.
Q: You describe part of being brave as being bold, confident,
and resilient. What encouragement do you have for the woman who doesn’t feel
like she is any of those things?
My experience both personally and in my
interactions with friends and clients tells me many of us would have trouble
describing ourselves with those words most of the time. While we might be
willing to acknowledge confidence, boldness, or resilience in ourselves in some
areas, many of us are much quicker to see those qualities in others. We tend to
compare our insides with other people’s outsides and reach the conclusion that
others possess something we just don’t have. I would encourage the woman who
struggles to identify those qualities in herself to ask a trusted friend or
family member for help in the discovery process. We are always more connected
to our courage in the context of community. Find the people who encourage you
to step out and exercise your confidence muscles and offer them the gift of
encouragement in return.
I would also encourage her to determine
what she thinks being bold, confident, and resilient looks like and act that way until she begins to feel that way. One of my favorite quotes
about being brave is from Aristotle. He says, “We become brave by doing brave
acts.” I believe scripture tells us that God created us to be brave, bold,
confident, and resilient. Until we remember what that feels like, we need to
encourage one another and practice doing brave things. Do one thing that scares
you every day, no matter how small, and catch your friends being brave.
Q: Who was Being Brave written for?
The Being
Brave journey is for women who feel stuck and want to get un-stuck. This
book is for the woman who dreams of a life of deeper purpose and passion, even
though she isn’t sure she has anything significant to contribute. This book is
for the woman who feels lonely, even though she has 750 friends on Facebook,
and for the woman who loves Jesus, even though she doesn’t always feel like she
fits in at church. This book is for the woman longing for deeper connection to
God and to other women like her. This book is for the woman who needs someone
to tell her she is brave, her story matters, and the party won’t be complete
without her.
Q: Tell us a little bit about the format of Being Brave. How did you intend for the
book to be used?
The book is formatted as a forty-day
devotional journey. Using our theme scripture from 2 Timothy and an acronym of the
word BRAVE, we explore six facets of being brave. On this journey, being brave
includes being Bold, Resilient, Authentic, Vulnerable, Engaged, and Empowered
by the Spirit. Each day explores one of the six facets of bravery with two
scripture verses, an illustration, three thought-provoking questions, and a
prayer. Along the way, we take inspiration from Jesus and His brave followers
during the final weeks of His ministry, in addition to examples of courage from
my own community.
My prayer is that readers will find an accessible
guide to thinking about being brave in a new way and be willing to consider the
idea that our Creator is willing and able to accompany us on the journey. I hope Being Brave is a book that both
seasoned devotional enthusiasts and those who have never used a daily
devotional before will find meaningful. In less than thirty minutes, most
readers will be able to explore the daily offering and consider ways to
incorporate the various facets of bravery into their day.
Learn more about Being Brave and Kelly Johnson at www.KellyIveyJohnson.com. She is also active on Facebook (KellyJohnsonGraceNotes), Twitter (KellyLJ1), and Instagram (kellylj1).
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