Brave.

It is a word that conjures all sorts of emotions.

For me, the thought of having to be brave makes my knees knock together. I think I’ve spent most of my life feeling anything other than brave. Terrified does a much better job at describing the way I’ve lived.

Before I knew God personally, I was afraid of death and injury. I feared being hurt and alone. I was anxious over not being pretty enough, smart enough, or liked enough, and feared that my every decision to please could end up back-firing on me.

After I came to know Christ as my Savior, the fear of death was replaced with the promise of heaven. I began to learn that even when I feel alone, God is always with me. In order to calm my anxious heart, I quoted verses like, Psalm 27:1 ESV, “The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?” Even so, my habits of fear have trumped steps of bravery throughout my Christian walk.

Being brave could be risky, foolish, or misunderstood, so instead of living brave, I’ve succumbed to quietly to fear.

Instead of facing my fears with courage found in Christ, I’ve focused on supressing my fears and hoping that when push comes to shove, someone else will be brave for me.

I’ve bought into the lie that I need a knight in shining armor to be brave for me. As a little girl that knight was my dad, even in his imperfect and fallen state. As a married woman, I’ve attempted many times to turn my husband into my knight. He certainly has been a wonderful protector and provider, but I’ve never seen him atop a white horse.

The truth is that we all struggle with fear and need to face it with courageous faith, for the call to live brave is for both men and woman. Boys and girls.

We all need courage — the type that is found in the cross and the sanctifying work of Christ. Like the courage that was promised to David and Joshua. Or the courage that Paul challenged the Christians in Corinth to embrace.

Yes, we ought to pray for our sons to be men of courage, but we also need to pray for our daughters to live strong, with brave faith. In a culture that attempts to emasculate our boys and men of all their God-given qualities of strength, we most definitely need to be praying for our sons to become men of courage. But that doesn’t exclude us from praying for our daughters to be brave women of God, who know their strength in the Lord and submit their strength to Him.

Bravery isn’t only a boy thing, so we need to teach our girls how to be brave, too.

Being a brave woman is about facing our fears with all humility and putting our trust in the One protector and defender of us all — Jesus Christ.

• Being brave is about not living in fear, but eliminating fear through increasing faith in God through the study of His word and His character and faithfulness.
• Being brave is about pressing on in the work God has called us to in the face of failure and trials.
• Being brave is about knowing that God is faithful and will never leave us nor forsake us who are his dear children.
• Being brave is about living life in the absence of fear while taking bold steps of courageous faith.

Isn’t it time, moms, that we live brave with courageous faith in the face of fear, and teach our daughters how to stand tall with courage found in their inheritance in Christ, too?

Download “Live Brave” … a free resource and short study from moretobe.com on having courageous faith.