You Are A Brave Woman~

“If you smile when no one else is around, you really mean it.” ~Andy Rooney

How often do we talk to ourselves, yet no one hears us because it’s all in our head.  We criticize ourselves for how poorly we behaved, how we should have said this or not said that.  It becomes so routine that we aren’t even aware of the tapes that play over and over until, all of a sudden, there’s this uneasy feeling and we can’t figure out why we’re miserable and angry.

Well, yesterday, after I finished cleaning the bathroom, I took a good, long look in the mirror,  raised my finger to my face and in a declarative voice, spoke these words:

You are a brave woman.”  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I repeated it a few times…

You are a brave woman.

I smiled and then started giggling.  I mean, it felt awkward but exhilarating!

I’ve not felt brave lately.  I don’t have a paying J O B, I’m finished educating the boys, no more paid babysitting and all I “do” is take care of the house, care for my chickens, work in the yard, plant things, take pictures, babysit, blah, blah, blah.

But I know I’m brave.

I refuse to be sucked in (all the way) by the lie that my worth is based on a paycheck, or some letters next to my name that prove I have a voice and should be heard.

My bravery isn’t about me.

It’s about Jesus in me and joining him in what He’s doing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I believe a brave woman is one who keeps plugging away, even when no one notices, comments or appreciates her efforts. Her greatest reward is knowing she’s becoming more like her Father God, the Author of order and peace.

She’s a woman who sees the value in getting it right for the sake of honoring God, not elevating herself or looking for accolades.  It’s doing the routine, boring jobs she doesn’t necessarily want to do like washing dishes twenty-five times a day and laying down her life for others with no strings attached.  A brave woman keeps making dinner for her spouse even when he comes home every so often and announces he’s eaten already.

I also believe a brave woman is one who can look past the mess of a creative child, sees the beauty of Play-Doh rolled into a worm, smiles at the crayon drawings on the wall or maybe she’s a woman that arranges for meals to be given to victims of a tornado in her own local town.  These are all acts of bravery.

A brave woman, like my sweet high school friend, Cheryl, volunteers with an after school club called, “Godly Divas” at a local public school and is leading little girls to Jesus, showing them by example how to be a godly woman.  She is pouring out her life in service to others, telling people wherever she goes what God is doing, including sharing Jesus in the hot tub at the YMCA!  She was telling the cashier at a local Christian bookstore about her experiences and about the girls in the club when a woman in line behind my friend started sobbing because she is a teacher at that school and has been wanting to get out of that job.  Cheryl, the cashier and a pastor working at the store stopped what they were doing and prayed for this discouraged woman.  Bravery.

I’m certain there are so many more examples of being brave, but I am intentionally speaking to women who feel stuck, are wondering if their life has purpose other than wiping butts and folding laundry or they’re in a new place and feel, like I do at times, lost.  The battle is in our heads and only we get to determine the outcome of that conversation.

It’s in the perspective of our thoughts that we either win the battle with love, hope and truth or we succumb to misery and self-pity.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So, how then, do we become brave women?   Is it possible to be at home all day, every day, right where we live and be brave?  Absolutely.

I believe beginning with what’s right in front of you is the start.  

Remind yourself you’re brave.  

Do it twelve times a day, if necessary, and allow your brain to develop new paths as you arrest the lies that would tell you otherwise.

Tell those in your life how thankful you are for them.

Look intentionally for beauty.

Seek it out.

Revel in the moment.

The moment is what it is and it may not be able to be change right now, but you, on the inside, can declare out loud and in your head that your Daddy God has you in the palm of his hand, and He will never let go of you.

Watch to see what God is doing and join him.

He is the never-leaving, never-forsaking God…and He is your life. 

That truth makes me feel brave.

One step at a time, one day at a time.