day 19: brave in my love
It's time to be honest, here in real-time. I've written before that I'm taking those first few steps towards being published. The vocabulary of the modern writer now includes words like "platform" and such - which I'm honestly okay with, it's something I have done before. But today I listened to a webinar about becoming a paid speaker and I took notes and I had a page full of ideas. Then Grayson woke up and the rest of the day was peanut butter sandwiches and baths for my peanut butter covered boy and talking on the phone to Eli's cyber-school teacher and then it was time for dinner. I kind of wanted to cry. Because it is sometimes easier to not have ideas or goals or dreams - to just get through the day dealing with the people and tasks that are needed for keeping up my family. But that is not who I am made to be. I was made to be a writer. And I believe that we are all better when each of us are being who we were made to be.
Embracing the bravery that God offers His children is, I believe, foundational - it's the first step to so much more. And I know it is maybe easier for me to say it because it has been on my mind for the last two years - but I really believe it is not just me. I believe God is calling this generation to be brave.
I know I've said it before but I'll say it again because I have to keep reminding myself of this over and over - bravery isn't just something we muster up from within ourselves. I believe the kind of bravery that God is calling us to is simply to embrace the bravery that God is offering to us. It is the door that He has opened, we just have to walk through it. It is the secret weapon He has give us, we just have to use it. And I don't think that this is necessarily limited to just the church. You see the word "brave" on everything right now. I don't think that this is a coincidence. I think that this is because God has dropped this into the hearts of a lot of people so that in a lot of different ways, different singers, different writers, different painters, different voices - all saying the same thing - maybe a lot of people will here it. Choose brave. When you are tempted to choose fear - choose brave. Choose love.
For each of us brave is going to look different. Whatever it is that God is calling us into - inviting others into our homes, showing up to Bible study, dragging yourself to church when you really don't feel like it, asking someone you admire if they'd be willing to let you buy them coffee.
For now I'm just walking through the grocery store reminding myself that if I really believe everything I have been writing then I will make it through this step in my process. If I really believe that God cares about my desires and that He put them in me to begin with and that if He intends for me to go through seasons of waiting for my good and that He is with me and for me in my weakness and anxiety - well then I can get through this season okay.
Ruth had her season of waiting. She could have gotten stuck in the middle and given up. That would have been they out. But I think she was motivated by love - not just a need to survive but a genuine love for God, for Naomi and probably for Boaz as well. I need to keep on reminding myself to have that same motivation as well.
Read: Ruth 3-4 & Matthew 1:1-16 (esp vs 5-6)
As I was thinking about Ruth's story and the points of connection and commonality between Ruth & Hannah's stories I was struck with this: their bravery was richly rewarded. That's not something I had in mind going into this study. I mean I believe that God blesses obedience, but I hadn't really connected how God uses our bravery to bless us too. I wasn't looking at the end-result because I can get stuck in the middle. I want to know that there is grace for the middle spaces - and there is - but there are also beautifully blessed endings to these stories of bravery. I want my life to be blessed like Hannah's & Ruth's and so I am going to keep moving forward, not giving up, enduring in bravery with hope for the end of my story.
As I was thinking about Ruth's story and the points of connection and commonality between Ruth & Hannah's stories I was struck with this: their bravery was richly rewarded. That's not something I had in mind going into this study. I mean I believe that God blesses obedience, but I hadn't really connected how God uses our bravery to bless us too. I wasn't looking at the end-result because I can get stuck in the middle. I want to know that there is grace for the middle spaces - and there is - but there are also beautifully blessed endings to these stories of bravery. I want my life to be blessed like Hannah's & Ruth's and so I am going to keep moving forward, not giving up, enduring in bravery with hope for the end of my story.
Respond: How is Ruth's bravery blessed at the end of her story?
What do you love about Ruth's ending?
Can you think of a time when God blessed your obedience and the end of a season was marked by blessing?
What are you believing God about for your own story?
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