Apr 16, 2011

Do It Afraid

How courageous are you ..... really?

Courage has been a key word in my life for over 10 years now. It is something that I am being called into and quite frankly, so are you.

Thesaurus.com gives us great insight into this somewhat mysterious, exciting,  and sometimes scary word:

Main Entry: courage
Part of Speech: noun
Definition: boldness, braveness
Synonyms: adventuresomeness, adventurousness, audacity, backbone, bravery, bravura, daring, dash, dauntlessness, determination, endurance, enterprise, fearlessness, firmness, fortitude, gallantry, gameness, grit, guts, hardihood, heroism, intrepidity, lion-heartedness, mettle, nerve, pluck, power, prowess, recklessness, resolution, spirit, spunk, stoutheartedness, temerity, tenacity, valor.


Courage takes alot. I mean look at all the words above!!! It ain't no easy peasy thing. Nothing great comes with ease. It does require one thing though.... not letting fear lead.

My friend, Shari posted a great quote this week on facebook. It said:
"Courage is fear that has said it's prayers and decided to go forward anyway!" 
My friend Sharon has an axiom that says: Do It Afraid.
What is something that you would do or say, if you just had more courage?
What is holding you back?

I love this verse found in Acts. 4

13 When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus.

 I love it because it means, that courage does not mean that I have it all together.  I can be ordinary. It means that I leave fear behind, have faith and trust that God is with me. Then - I go for it!!!
Any intelligent fool can make things bigger and more complex... It takes a touch of genius - and a lot of courage to move in the opposite direction.
Albert Einstein
We must build dikes of courage to hold back the flood of fear.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak; courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen.
Winston Churchill
Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.
Winston Churchill
Sometimes courage means saying yes OR saying no. Sometimes it means boundaries, sometimes is means being reckless, sometimes is means creating a plan and sticking to it.

What does courage mean to you?

2 comments:

Shaun and Holly said...

Great post Cheryl! :)

What does courage mean to me?

It is me being obedient to what every the Lord is asking me to do. Sometimes it's scary...but I try to do it anyway!

Maureen said...

Courage is not the lack of fear but the ability to walk through it,and I Praise God for holding my hand during difficult moments.

Thanks for posting this Cheryl
Happy Easter to you and your family