Bravery is doing something without knowing what's going to happen next. -Canon Weir
Everyone wants to know how to get to doing their thing, their calling, walking in their purpose. When you discover what it takes, you'll ask yourself, "why did I wait so long?"
I began writing the how to step into your calling earlier this afternoon and wouldn't you know my computer froze. The timing was not lost on me as I was really getting to the nuggety goodness of the article, really sharing with you guys how to embrace all that God has for you. Then everything went frosty. I prayed over the computer, (I do that now), I walked away, shut it down, rebooted, still nothing. Convinced it something against me, I decided to come back after dinner and tackle the airwaves again later. The something was rather Someone. The Lord saw fit to remind of some key teaching I needed, my kids needed and I think, you need today.
On the topic of why you, me, anyone can't seem to get it going in their true calling, to walk in all that God has for them in this life, truly much of it comes down to something my son said. You have to be brave, maybe willing to be dangerous. The discussion then turned to 'what does it mean to be brave?'
Canon hit us with a gem I won't soon forget. "Bravery is doing something without knowing what's going to happen next". Most people think we need bravery to go to war, to be a fireman or a police officer. Sure, those require a level of bravery. But can I tell you, the average needs a good size helping of bravery to do the things God has called them to do as well. Doing what you are called to do takes bravery, it takes not being comfortable most of your days. Something most Americans simply cannot do anymore.
When my son was being wheel into his first surgery to remove the cancer from his little nine year old body, that apparently took bravery to stand next to him and lie through my teeth telling him he was going to be ok. He was not in fact ok. Physically yes. But that season for him wrecked him emotionally and he wouldn't recover emotionally from that for a number of years.
Going into the hospital on the morning my youngest was to be born took a lot of bravery, not to lay there and let them pull her from my belly, but to actually be brave enough to look at her organs coming out of her abdomen, to not take another dose of pain meds so I could walk down the the NICU and hold her rather than be laid up in bed. All of that, an insane amount of bravery. Demanding the docs let me take her home against their better judgement because I knew in my gut she would thrive and gain weight if I could get her out of that sterile prison- ballsy bravery.
Selling most of our things, moving to an unknown city without a house until two days before we left, crazy brave.
Before all of this I did things that my mom would tell you were just plain stupid. She'd be wrong by the way, but she's a mom and moms tend to think fun and exciting things are stupid. Rock climbing, deep ocean diving, swimming with sharks, or scuba trips to unknown islands, all were ridiculously fun but looking back I wonder- did that maybe take a small amount of risk? Perhaps.
WIth the exception of the moving to MA and the adrenaline junkie fun, there was little choice in being brave or not. It was something I had to walk through, no choice in the matters. The death of my husband- zero choice. The continuing on with life, also, zero choice.
Sort of.
Since Mark died, every passing day has found me less inclined to take risks. I take a painfully long time to make decisions. If I screw it up, there's no one to back me up and only about a thousand people who might possibly tell what a loser choice that was. Before you scoff at the notion that people would do or say such things, I watch the church community do that very thing to my mom. When she became a widow at weirdly around the same age as me, they all told her she needed to go get a real job, sell her ranch and be reasonable. No one was really willing to help her keep the ranch or her horses. It's not even the financial aspect, but the time and upkeep. Her family chimed in with the same advice, sell your horses and house and move in with your daughter. We would have welcomed her of course, but it wasn't her dream to live with us. He dream and calling was to train horses and teach others to ride. My mom has lived and breathed horses since she was three. It's no wonder she plopped me on top of Reno (her horse) when I was three and made darn sure I would ride. When her husband died, she was left with choices she didn't want to face. Getting a reasonable job was the logical choice. Selling a couple of the four horse, the next logical step. In spite of all the naysayers, my momma kept her property, even built a fence around 8 acres herself, no help, in Texas heat, and created a sweet haven for herself. She stuck to her guns and is still living out her dream in that regard.
Watching my mom walk an incredibly hard road, being ridiculed behind her back has made me gun-shy to be brave like that. Emotional trauma can cause one to not be so inclined to be brave and do hard things. Oh, and telling something to just do is truly no help at all. If i could just do something, me of all people would have already done that thing and be eating a sandwich. Emotions can paralyze a person.
I've spent a lifetime going against the grain and it's always worked out perfectly great. Then Mark died.
What if I make a stupid choice now?
What might happen to my kids?
What if they suffer because I was reckless?
What if I made the right choice?
What if they saw me take incredible risks that paid off?
What if they watched me touch someone's life because I stepped out?
What if seeing me stumble and trip over myself they have the courage to do so in their own lives?
What if I really am hearing the voice of God saying "this is the way, walk in it"?
What by being brave, I see God move in tangible ways and the world around me is never the same?
Lots of what ifs to consider.
Your turn.
What are your what ifs? Get your paper and pen, my friend. This is about to get real.
What if you just sat down with your Creator tonight and said, "what do YOU have for me in this life?" He'll be so quick to answer.
What if you already know what you're meant to do, but are too afraid to step in? I'm positive you have an idea.
What if you are the only one doing it? You will be.
What if you don't have a pack of people following you? So much the better to be a trail blazer.
What if for one day, you didn't ask someone's opinion, look at social media for advice, killed your television, shut out all the noise, including those living in your home, and just listened for the next right thing?
What if you instead of wondering how you were going to make a living, you started thinking of ways to make a life?
I'll leave you with this example-
In 2020 I came across a bible verse that says, "the abundance of the sea will be turned to you." It's somewhere in Isaiah, go look it up, it'll do you some good to pursue unknown verses in the Word. On my daily beach walk I saw shells scattered as far and wide as I could see. I kept thinking of that verse, looking at those shells, and thought, I bet we could sell those. After a brief conversation with my family, a business was born. While the world was freaking out about life shutting down, we were creating a cool business online with zero overhead- picking up shells off the beach, washing them up and putting them on an Etsy shop. So simple, so right in front of our faces.
What's in front of your face right now that you are missing because you're not allowing our God to open your eyes to see?
The opportunities are endless, you just gotta look and be brave.