Last month for Mother’s Day I was challenged to “Put my brave on!” Fellowship Church guest
speaker, Hope Adams, gave a wonderful message about discovering that when we put our brave on, we
discover a key to unlocking the life God wants us all to experience. This
message was convicting. As I mentioned in my blog post, Run Your Own Race, I revealed that I
have been guilty of comparing myself to others.
I have battled insecurities and self doubt all my life. I never wanted to confess this out loud
because that would make me weak and I never wanted to be portrayed as weak. I have since realized that I’m not the
only one that feels this way. I was able
to grasp this by attending Flavour Sisterhood, which is a venue for women to
gather and grow in their relationship with Christ and with other sisters. I realized here that I didn’t have to pretend
I had it all together. It was so freeing
to know that I was not the only one feeling the way I was feeling. I was sitting in a room with other women who
were battling the same battles. I can’t tell you how much Flavour helped
me. Showing weakness and sharing my
problems was not my thing, but here in this room, I was able to laugh, cry,
share my high and low points and find comfort within other women.
Getting my brave is not in my comfort zone. For some people it seems to come so
easy. I use to find myself thinking, “I wish I wasn’t so shy. I wish I was more confident. I wish I could speak in front of a large
group of people. I wish I wasn’t so
easily intimated. I wish I didn’t care
what other people think.” As my
relationship with Christ has become stronger, I have gained this realization
that I can’t do it all. And that’s OK. And
He has said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made
perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my
weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. 2 Corinthians 12:9 I’ve
read this verse so many times and knew I needed to start sharing my weakness,
but my pride wouldn’t let me. I must say, it feels liberating to share my weakness and be OK
with it – and the reason I’m OK with that, is because I know you are reading
this thinking, “That’s exactly how I feel.” You and I are relating in our weakness and
that’s comforting. Today I know more
than ever that God has a bigger purpose for my life. And that purpose does not include being the
girl with the prettiest smile or the best body, or even the girl with the car
that no one else can afford. That’s not
what I’m here for and that’s not what I’m aiming for (even though at times I
wish I had that). I am here to share His good news through my life.
I hope you have some time to watch this message from Hope
Adams. After you watch it, I want you to
(A) do something this week where you put your brave on and (2) leave a comment
down below sharing how you have stepped out of your comfort zone. I will be doing a giveaway of this awesome
shirt that says, “Put your brave on” to the best story of bravery. I will follow up with the winner on sizing
and delivery. Let’s be brave!
XO
XO
Be Brave, Be Daring, and Paint On…
ReplyDeleteI wanted to make a creative leap and was inspired by one of my flavour sister’s, Rita Mireles and blogger Sweet Pickens. The challenge was to paint and distress furniture, that’s right furniture. I had recently made a purchase on craigslist, which was a french provincial desk. She was gorgeous, inexpensive and the perfect piece for Vida’s newly painted room. I had envisioned and knew what I wanted to do but I was afraid of ruining such a beautiful piece of furniture. I contemplated on what color to paint her, researched the whole process of distressing furniture I don’t know how many times, and pretty much had second thoughts. In the end, I just had to try my best and conquer my fear. You don’t know until you try, right? I mean, these past few weeks, I fixed the plumbing fixtures in our master bathtub, teamed up with my husband on fixing the toilet, and taped and mudded walls for sakes! (I felt like supermom with a utility belt around her waist literally!) Why was I so afraid of painting a desk? I’ve painted before but this was different, this was uncharted territory. I started on my project this past weekend and I surprised myself. Of course there were some minor trial and errors. But isn’t that the whole process of learning something new? I was pretty proud of myself. My daughter loves it and to know that I was brave enough to do something new, made it worthwhile in the end.
That's awesome. So proud of you and of your piece! I can see that you are taking leaps in getting out there and trying something new and getting motivated. I love that. Very proud of you and thank you for being my first submission.
Delete