Brave

It takes courage to live life to the full. It takes courage not to let the set-backs crush you. But God is always for us, always with us, always willing us to invite him in to strengthen us. He enables us to live life bravely.

A worship song on the new album from Bethel church in California celebrates God’s faithfulness in making us brave. In calling us away from the safety zones we crouch inside and strengthening us to take risks, to live life on the edge, fully immersed in him.

I experienced what I can only describe as his miraculous enabling when Don and I visited the Great Barrier Reef a few years ago. An extremely nervous swimmer, I never swim in open water and the thought of slipping into the sea twenty-five miles out, with no land in sight, is enough to give me the heebie-jeebies. I didn’t want to steel myself to do what I felt was a ‘must-do’ on a visit to Australia; I wanted to embrace the beauty of God’s magnificent creation and be amazed. 

I prayed for courage for the twenty-five mile boat ride, sucking on ginger tablets to stave off any seasickness. (A hurricaine was due the next day.) By the time the boat reached the first anchor point, I was excited to get into the water and see what lay beneath. God made me brave. He removed all fear and replaced it with a sense of awe and wonder at what did lie beneath the waves.

God is faithful, full of love and yearning for us to experience more of life by letting go of our fears and trusting in him. 

Today, the grief for my wee Dusty goes on, washing in waves over me, but I know that God is even more faithful than Dusty was. He is always waiting for me, yearning for me to turn to him, to speak to him, to cry out to him, to trust in him and then to step out, or swim out, from the boat of security in which I usually recline and go where he calls me.

He fills me with courage.