live courageously

hellooooo everybody!!! it’s been a hot minute but guess what? no no not chicken butt hahah I have several blogs in the making that I want to share with you all. Hang tight and stay tuned!! 

ayyyooo I am back in the states!!! A massive thank you to everyone who has been praying for safe travels and your sweet sweet love and support that will endure forever in my heart. I feel all the emotions being home. While I have been home, I have started the process of reflecting this year. I don’t think I will ever have enough words let alone the right words to describe what it was like. I wanted to share with y’all what my team along with another team had the honor of doing in our last country on the race. We had the great pleasure of doing outreach into villages and help teach english to preschoolers in Malealea, Lesotho. Waking up to the precious sound of children’s voices while they are playing on the playground was music to my ears. Our afternoons with the kiddos consisted of going over the ABC’s, colors of the rainbow, pronunciation of the letters in the alphabet, days of the week, seasons, the names of the months, counting, dancing, singing, games and story time. We made learning fun and enjoyable for them!! The kiddos brought sunshine and energy into our lives. With every smile, filled the room with giggles and joy. Not only did we get the chance to work with children but we also visited villages and sat with families in their homes. We exchanged stories, worshiped as a family, read stories in the Bible together such as the woman at the well and the good shepherd and his sheep, splattered mud on the walls and with tears in my eyes saw people come to know Christ. When doing evangelism in the villages, I will admit it can be a squirmy feeling. I am learning and growing in my confidence with our Heavenly Father on a day to day basis. It can be scary at times and often I ask God what the heck am I doing hahah but that is the beauty of it. We don’t have to know what we are suppose to do next. It’s trust and faithfulness that go hand in hand. Simply trusting in God and his promises. As my faith grows, so does my courage. Our confidence is placed in God instead of in ourselves. For awhile now, I have been reminded of one of the best-known examples of courage in the Bible is that of young David standing in the presence of the giant Goliath. I marvel at how he boldly stood before the terrifying Philistine and knocked him over with a single well-aimed stone. However, many of us may not stop to notice a key element of the story: David deflected attention from himself onto God, emphasizing that it was the Lord who had the power and strength to defeat the enemy. 1 Samuel 17:45-47 “David said to the Philistine, you come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This day the Lord will deliver you into my hands, and I’ll strike you down and cut off your head. This very day I will give the carcasses of the Philistine army to the birds and the wild animals, and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel. All those gathered here will know that it is not by sword or spear that the Lord saves; for the battle is the Lord’s, and he will give all of you into our hands”. He didn’t imagine for a moment that he alone could topple Goliath. He displayed no confidence in his own abilities. But God had saved him before and David was confident he could and would do so again.

The difference between David and the other Israelites was not that he was more capable to fight than they were; in fact, he was the least qualified among them. What made him stand apart was his unwavering faith in God. What he lacked in self-confidence he more than made up for in courage.

If David seemed fearless, it wasn’t because he didn’t recognize the danger in front of him. He didn’t foolishly or arrogantly jeer at his opponent as Goliath did. Instead, David chose to put his trust in the living and loving God he knew intimately, and it turned out he was right to do so.

But what these brave souls have in common is the wisdom to recognize the ultimate source of power: the Creator and Lord. We, too, can live courageously in the face of difficult circumstances when we confidently turn to God for strength.

I want to continue to enter into the perspective of cultivating a God confidence. Our identity will change, we will have empathy for others, we will see people struggling and want to help them find Jesus. You will forgive quicker; pour into others before worrying about yourself. Everything in our lives flows through Jesus; why not make him the center of the origin in where our confidence comes from? Cultivating God-confidence will change how we see personal appearances. I want to strive even more to living by cultivating God confidence. By doing I will see more through this new lens. A lens filled with forgiveness, admiration, and hope. God-confidence doesn’t mean you need to have everything figured out. Just like being a Christian doesn’t mean you won’t struggle, it means you won’t struggle alone.  

Cultivating God-confidence changes how we see things. God instills confidence in every person who seeks Him with all his or her heart.

I’ve felt inadequate for many many things. Satan wants to be a devouring lion in our lives. He wants to rob me of my joy that I have from the Father. I want to continue to focus on what Jesus offers. Love, hope, forgiveness, and a never-ending light within me that wants to shine through. When I am going through hard trials and self doubt I know God is with me and that I am not alone. He is my person who listens to me when I am angry and upset and welcomes my laughs. When I feel insecure about something, He is the person in my ear saying, I am enough, take a leap of faith and see all the things I have to show you. He offers me the ultimate acceptance. 

 

I what to leave these questions with you to ponder on.

• What brings you out of a “slump” or feeling frustrated?
• Do you find yourself feeling inadequate of the things Jesus is calling you do in your life? What are those things?
• Where does your hope come from? (Self-confidence or God confidence)
• When you are in the lowest of lows in your day, month or year, what gets you moving forward again?
• After you try cultivating God confidence, do you see things through different eyes? Do you feel empathy for those you normally would not feel for? Do you feel that “you are enough”?

 I am excited for what is coming in my life because life with Jesus is the BEST!!! 

Dear Jesus, let me be content with who I am, what I have and where you are leading me. Help me to have a mindset of cultivating God-Confidence, courage and thankfulness all day long. Amen.

xxx racer girl