I’ve always wanted to be brave. And sometimes I am. But then there are those other times… times when I let fear, doubt and the comparison curse make me feel not-so-brave. And during those times, my feelings of “blah” and not-so-brave need a kick in the booty. Others times I need a friend to remind me I am brave. I just need to choose to “live” brave.
I invited my friend Annie Downs to stop by and be that friend for us {all} today. She’s part of the (in)courage contributor team with me, and her book about being brave just released into the world this week. All kinds of awesomeness is happening because she was brave enough to write this message; a message we all need to hear! Here’s Annie…
My friend Sarah said she never does anything brave.
She’s 37. Married. Three kids. A dog that yips too much. Her husband has a job and they live in a house.
It’s your basic suburban life, with a literal suburban as the family car.
As we sat at Starbucks, catching up while her kids were in Vacation Bible School, she asked about my new book Let’s All Be Brave and proceeded to inform me of her lack of brave.
I laughed. Sarah is one of the bravest friends I know. We’ve been in each other’s lives for years, since college, and I have watched her be brave over and over again.
Her first date with her future-husband. Brave.
Finding out she was pregnant with #2 quicker than expected (ahem). Brave.
When things got bad after her third baby, you that mama-doesn’t-have-it-in-her-to-cook-another-meal kind of bad? She didn’t run away. She cooked dinner that night and the night after. If you ask me, that’s brave.
Sarah walked away from a job she liked to raise her family. Brave.
Now she works part-time to help ends meet. Brave.
Do you see it? Do you see the brave in the every day? Do you see the moments when fear or hurt or worry could whisper so loudly that all movement halted?
Here’s what’s true about courage: being brave isn’t the absence of fear or worry;
being brave is stepping forward even when the fear still whispers.Brave people hear the fears, they just don’t listen to them.
I laughed at Sarah. Yes, right in her face. (We’re good friends; it was appropriate.) I laughed because I know she is brave, just like I know you are brave.
There have been times when you wanted to quit, but you didn’t. There have been moments when you wanted to say no, but you said yes. There have been opportunities to stay when you knew it was right to leave. So you left.
You, my friend, are brave.
It isn’t just the ones who jump out of planes or move over the ocean that get to wear that courageous title.
It’s yours too.
And when you’ll be brave, the people around you will see that brave and they’ll choose it too. In the everyday moments, in the big moments, look for brave, choose it, and know that your people are watching and deciding to live brave because of YOU.
Let’s all be brave and watch as it changes the world.
Annie F. Downs is an author, blogger, and speaker based in Nashville, Tennessee. Flawed but funny, she uses her writing to highlight the everyday goodness of a real and present God. An author of three books- Let’s All Be Brave, Perfectly Unique, and Speak Love, Annie also loves traveling around the country speaking to young women, college students, and adults. Read more at anniefdowns.com and follow her on Twitter @anniefdowns.
ENTER to WIN:
What resonated with your heart as you read Annie’s thoughts about being brave?Enter to win Annie’s new book, Let’s All Be Brave, by clicking “Share Your Thoughts” below today’s post and do just that. Annie is giving away 2 copies!
This giveaway is now over, but I would still love to hear from you!
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Amen
This book sounds amazing. I am always trying to be brave.
This book sounds excellent and much needed! We all need a little (or a lot) more brave!
Would love to win for our MOPS group – our theme this year is Be You, Bravely. We’re always looking for new books/studies to do with the moms. Thanks!
Love this concept. I agree we are all brave. I shafted a quote in social media @smilinjen216 and facebook.com/smilinjen216
“Here’s what’s true about courage: being brave isn’t the absence of fear or worry;
being brave is stepping forward even when the fear still whispers.”
Good stuff and I can’t wait to read it! I how I win it!
Sounds like a great read!!
What resonated with me was how I’ve felt I’ve never been a very brave person and to hear Annie describe the bravery she saw in Sarah in the everyday things, it made me reflect on my own life and the times where I could recognize some degree of bravery. I just didn’t see it from that perspective. Bravery doesn’t have to be in just the big things in life, it can be seen in a multitude of levels. Annie, your book sounds wonderful! May God bless your words to help others in their life journey.
I love the idea that we can be brave even when we have fear. I recently shared a fb post expressing vulnerably how uncourageous I am when it comes to sticking up for or fighting for me. I have allowed fear to rule my decision making far too often. But this excerpt reminded me that I have been brave. When I found out I was pregnant with my first child shortly after my spouse & I had decided not to have children, I kept my child. When I was a victim of an abusive relationship, I walked away. I am currently facing a new circumstance & I want to give up. I want to run away & hide. I want God to fix it now. But I my be brave. I must not back down. I must praise Him in the storm & trust in His promises. Brave. This year God is teaching me courage.
Being brave is being faced with some of the toughest challenges but being an overcomer & a fighter-I have a chronic, incurable lung disease called pulmonary hypertension -which is high blood pressure inside my lungs- I have had the disease since 2001 & yes! I am a long term survivor at this point. Woohoo! God is so amazing!
I was married to a very abusive man and I didn’t ever think I was brave!! It took me 28 years to leave and never look back! I am now old and retired with heart trouble, thyroid, and COPD! I have lost any chance if being brave! I would love to have your book maybe reading it can help me be brave now!!!
I like that she understands that being brake doesn’t always mean HUGE things and sometimes the bravest are in the little things.
Like being respectful in a marriage where you are treated as lesser..
I would absolutely love to win and read this book! Sounds outstanding! So helpful! with everything that seems to be coming at me right now. I am not good with decisions. I haven’t been very brave. Thank you for the opportunity! 🙂
It made me realize brave comes in all shapes and forms. My mom for instance is brave because of her fight with breast cancer. I want to say I would be as brave as her , but I honestly do not know. But I strive to brave as my mom.
The first and only thing I could think about as I read your comments about being brave is the major decision I had to make today. Just before I read this actually. I was so scared that I was going to make the wrong choice and mess up something and then regret it in the future. But I prayed before I made my choice and now that I read this so immediately after making that choice, it just makes me feel very blessed and confident that God is speaking to me right now, telling me that I’m going to be ok and I made the right decision, the decision he wanted me to make. So thank you!
It’s easy to play the comparison game and think we aren’t as pretty, smart, organized, or BRAVE as the women we interact with, but in truth, God gave us each a unique situation. He appointed us and us alone to be the wife to our husband, mother to our children, and in relationship to those he puts in our path. Being ‘just’ an everyday person, her story resonated with me because my daily interactions with my family and friends may seem mundane but may also call me to step out of my comfort zone and be BRAVE in order to be used by God in others’ lives.
Cancer is very scary stuff, I wasn’t brave, but with Jesus carrying me, I went through chemo, surgery, radiation and almost finished with reconstruction. Trying to focus on just today,bone day at a time. This book is so needed.
It made me think that I (we) can be brave in the normal, every day tasks.
“Brave people hear the fears, they just don’t listen to them.”
Love that! I love that you see “brave” in the everyday things we do as women. It’s powerful~ thank you
Annie’s friend Sarah’s story just squeezed my heart… all of those ways that she is really brave even when she wasn’t feeling very brave. I lived in a third world country for 10 years with my husband and children. I felt brave then but in the last 5 years since we’ve moved back to our home country, I feel less and less brave every day. I can’t even believe that the person who lived on the other side of the world was me sometimes. So many life experiences, so much water under the bridge… I really feel very small and scared most of the time. I’m reading “A Confident Heart” and am being so encouraged… learning to tell myself the truth always. I would love love love to follow that up by Annie’s new book as well.
I so want to be brave ALL THE TIME but it’s so hard. God has really been working on me and molding me toward becoming who I am supposed to be, who he made me to be.
I’ve also been under so much attack from the enemy over the last few months and have been in such a dark place. All I could see was a light that I’m striving for and that light is God. I’m trying to be brave as I’m working my way back out of the dark place and the light is getting bigger and brighter although slowly.
I just want to be brave and strong and never doubt God is in control if I just stay focused on Him