Here’s something you should know about me: I don’t like the woods. I never have. I don’t have a fear of trees and leaves, no. It’s more like when I am enclosed by dark menacing foliage and can’t see very far in front of me, I suddenly become afraid of all that I cannot see.
Why is this trail getting narrower? I think I saw something. It’s really dark back here. Really, though, I know I saw something move up there. Oh my word, what was that noise? Was that you???
You get the picture.
Growing up, I was never called brave. I wasn’t afraid of everything, but I didn’t have a strong desire to take unnecessary risks. Even today, I don’t have an urge to take risks just to feel a sense of thrill, and I don’t have a need to do something dangerous just to say I did it.
But I’ve been called brave a lot recently.
“You’re going where??? You are a very brave young lady.” I’m always struck by this comment. Confused, even. I want to say, “Are you kidding? Do you know me at all?”
Last week I went to the North East for some training. Mountains. Woods. Bears, wolves, moose, elk. All unseen under the cover of darkness, of course.
Amidst this nagging fear, while we were there we met someone with the gift of prophesy. She was an amazing woman of God. We had a long conversation with her about spiritual gifts, and we prayed together. After the prayer, she looked up at me and said, “Hadley, I feel like God is telling you...”, and directly addressed specific things I had been thinking about all day, and hadn’t told anyone. One of the things she said to me was, “You are brave.”
What???
Bravery is something I’ve been working on with my coach for the past month. Bravery to dial the phone, courage to follow up with people, confidence to ask. But the sentence, “You are Brave,” has had me thinking this past week. Really, God? I am BRAVE?
So I Googled "brave." It's defined as possessing or exhibiting courage or courageous endurance. Which started me thinking.
Maybe I don’t have to be excited by taking risks. Maybe I don’t have to jump off of a cliff, ride the Power Tower, or hike a narrow trail through the woods to be brave. Maybe bravery is being willing to follow wherever God leads you, and the endurance to continue to follow his lead. All while having confidence that he is going to meet all of your needs in the process, and knowing it’s not the work you’re doing, but the work God is doing through you. It’s not through your own strength and valor that you are brave, but only through the Holy Spirit at work in you. He's the one who makes you brave.
If that’s what it means to be brave, then, yes, I think can call myself that. It doesn’t mean I’m not afraid. It means I know, I just know, that God is going to work it all out for good. All I have to do is follow his lead, and go where he calls me.
I can be brave in Christ. But I’m still glad I’m not serving God in the woods.