CHOOSING BRAVE

“You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You must do the thing you think you cannot do.”
-Eleanor Roosevelt

I believe right now you might be one brave decision away from one of the most important discoveries of your entire life.
Take the courage that’s being offered by looking at what’s hiding behind your greatest fear.

Recently someone paid for my drink at Starbucks but I was so distracted with social media and being on my phone that I forgot to actually pick it up. Who leaves a free cappuccino on the counter?

Apparently I do.

And just like that cup of free deliciousness, we can easily let distractions keep us from the free gift of courage that is offered to us by God.

Perhaps you don’t even know it’s there on the counter waiting for you. Too often we don’t realize we will be placed in a situation where God hasn’t already offered us the courage it takes to be at the table.

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Just in case you missed that, you will never be in a situation where God doesn’t offer you courage or the “brave” you need to succeed. In scripture, the first words out of God’s mouth are “Take Courage” as someone was being invited to step into a big assignment. In fact, Jesus said: “In the world you will have tribulation but take courage, I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33)

And at the end of the day, no one can do this for you, you are the only one that can move forward in your life by choosing to take the courage that’s being handed to you.

And so it is throughout history.

Rosa Parks made the choice to be brave by making a decision to sit on a bus during the turbulent times of the Civil Rights Movement. She said “I have learned through the years that when one’s mind is made up, this diminishes fear: knowing what must be done does away with fear.”

Corrie Ten Boom took “brave” as she and her family helped many Jews escape the Holocaust in Nazi Germany. Corrie and her sister were sent to a concentration camp where they suffered horrific atrocities. She said, “Never be afraid to trust an unknown future to a known God.”

Nelson Mandela, who helped bring an end to apartheid in South Africa, amidst great personal sacrifice and opposition said “I’ve learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear.”

These were everyday people like you and me. They didn’t have a special brave DNA strand that made it any easier for them than it does for you; what generated the brave was a choice.

Perhaps taking the brave being offered to you looks like facing a terrifying health issue, uncertain finances, having that painful conversation, or maybe it’s just keeping silent and relinquishing control. Sometimes the brave you need is to not give up but to stay the course when nothing seems to be going right.

Remember we are the ones that get to choose to be a prisoner of our past, or a courageous pioneer of our future. For far too long we’ve allowed who we were to talk us out of who we are becoming.

It’s important for you to realize that your future is directly connected to the brave choices you’re making today.

You have a calling.
A purpose.
And you are here for a reason: more than just for yourself.
You are a trailblazer and you are hardwired to be the change which is why mediocre feels like a prison sentence and you feel the nudge for more.
It’s not comfortable. It’s like trying to fit into your jeans in January after binge eating Christmas cookies. You’ve stretched, but the pants haven’t.
And so it is now.
You’ve grown and that fear doesn’t fit you any longer.

It’s time to move on my friend.
Heaven believes in you and so do I, you were never created to be average.
Every step you take, no matter how big or small is significant and it’s building you and your leadership capabilities.
You are not a victim of your circumstance, you are a leader of change.
Keep going, you’ve got this.

Today practice your “brave” by asking yourself these questions:
• In what area is fear an indicator to my purpose and calling?
• Where do I need to take the courage being offered to me?
• In what areas do I need to trust God with His timing, or step into what He’s asking me to do now?

Donna Pisani 

Excerpt from “The Power of Not Yet, Living a Life of Endless Possibilities” by Donna Pisani. Available in Kindle, Paperback, Spanish and Audible.