Courage!
I have a good friend who lost her job just after I resigned mine. We've spoken on the phone recently, since in many ways, we are going through the same process of beginning a new season in our lives. Her situation is different, though, in that she didn't choose to change jobs--it was forced on her, and in a very public way. She still has to see all of her former clients all the time, with all them knowing what happened to her. It would be very easy for her to give up in humiliation, slink off to some other town or state, and settle for less than God's destiny for her life. But she has chosen to get back up again, after being knocked flat, to continue on in God's promise for her life and ministry. I'm proud of her!
Courage is hard thing to wish for. Like patience, courage only comes from difficult circumstances that force you to act, even when your heart may be quaking and crying inside. Like the cowardly lion of The Wizard of Oz, wishing for courage doesn't make it appear automatically; it will probably be a scary moment, face to face with the Wicked Witch, one second away from certain death, that will produce courage.
Reading some notes by a friend (www.sammasteller.com) from a Christ for the Nations conference he attended, I found this wisdom:
Courage is hard thing to wish for. Like patience, courage only comes from difficult circumstances that force you to act, even when your heart may be quaking and crying inside. Like the cowardly lion of The Wizard of Oz, wishing for courage doesn't make it appear automatically; it will probably be a scary moment, face to face with the Wicked Witch, one second away from certain death, that will produce courage. Reading some notes by a friend (www.sammasteller.com) from a Christ for the Nations conference he attended, I found this wisdom:
COURAGE ESTABLISHES LEADERSHIP
As a leader, you have no idea what hangs in the balance of your decision to act courageously. The leader isn’t necessarily the first to identify an opportunity. The leader is the one who has the courage to seize it, initiate, to set things in motion, to move ahead.
A. DAVID’S leadership was established in an environment of uncertainty and fear. (1 Samuel 17:10-11) "Whenever there is fear, there is opportunity. Whenever there is great fear, there is great opportunity.”
B. David’s leadership was established through his courage, not his talent or his calling. Goliath's slaying did not make David a leader, but it marked him as one. The incident in the valley of Elah didn’t equip David to lead, but it certainly equated.
C. David was courageous, but he was not careless. There is a difference between acting courageously & carelessly. That difference is preparation. (1 Samuel 17:40)
D. David’s courage empowered others to act courageously. When David killed Goliath, there was an immediate reversal of momentum on the battlefield. (1 Samuel 17:51-52)-David, through one act of bravery, gave an entire army something they severely lacked: courage to engage the enemy.
Whether you are going through a hard time in life, like my good friend, or have a big decision to make, or are developing leadership in general, there is a lot to learn about courage and the way that God honors our courageous faith.