So many of the stories we’ve shared so far seem to begin with “It didn’t seem brave to me, just…” Many (including me) have shared that we see brave in other people, but not necessarily in ourselves. Today, Annie F. Downs talks about how inspiring it is to recognise bravery when we see it.
Let’s all commit to noticing the bravery of our friends and then cheering over it. Let’s celebrate the bravery in the ordinary everyday things, as well as the momentous, exciting things. Other people’s brave acts don’t diminish ours, rather they can rouse us to be brave. And maybe if we get in the habit of noticing brave in others, and celebrating it, maybe we’ll get better at noticing it in ourselves.
When I was sharing with a brave friend recently I told her of my hope that by reading this devotional we would move away from a “Yay, sista! You got this!” (even though I wholeheartedly believe in encouraging one another) but instead we might move towards a “I was scared but my God was with me in it, and look how!” conversation.
Who can you message or speak to today to commend them for their bravery? We don’t need to share names, but we may be able how they their responses without revealing details. Perhaps our noticing will motivate them to keep going. Perhaps their responses to our noticing will surprise us. If your friend’s first response is to dismiss your encouragement or say “Oh, I’m not that brave…” maybe you can tell them why you chose to bring it up. It’s part of our story, and with our stories we can share authentically and straightforwardly where God has been noticeably with us.
I’ve noticed it’s easier for me to commend a stranger on social media for their bravery and give them encouragement than it is to say that to those I know in real life. Anyone have any thoughts to say into that?
I can relate to this; it’s hard to find the words and (for me) know when to stop speaking 😂 if they don’t say anything I start rambling with nonsense! Have you considered writing them a note? When I’ve received notes I’ve always kept them and re-read them. Somehow re-reading them made the words become more believable
I have written cards in the past. Thanks for the reminder to do that again
❤️
Pondering this, it is so easy to see all of the incredibly brave women and men who impact and inspire me. One who made the right choice, and is now the most beautiful, creative, strong, loving, BRAVE…I could go on forever about her, a true precious gift from God. The one who has had immense challenges and has a heart and spirit so strong and BRAVE, she doesn’t know how Brave she is, she is inspiring. The ones who became who they were created to be, who struggled with pain and heartache; who survived overcoming overwhelming odds. The ones who keep on going, climbing mountains while wholly exhausted. Every one of these BRAVE women have God in good focus and they all know that without Him their Bravery would not be possible to sustain.
I’m glad you can notice their bravery. Have you ever been able to talk to them about now their bravery inspires you? I see your other comment about it being easier to do it on social media than IRL (totally relate)—i wonder if they know how their choices have positively impacted you and if that would encourage them?
You know, I might doing every once in a great while, but certainly not often enough. Thanks for the suggestion!
BRAVE is my daughter packing up her room to leave this place she calls home to go to college in another place she doesn’t know. I had never thought of it as being brave until today. I need to humble myself and tell her how brave she really is.
I love this insight! She is brave. And so are you. You are also brave to tell her she is brave. Love Tifainé
I have a friend who is going through a difficult time emotionally and mentally, and every day she shows up is a day she was brave. Sometimes bravery has even been resting.
Whoops. That was supposed to be a comment, not a reply. 🤦🏼♀️
Have you told you friend how brave you think she is? For both the doing and the resting? What was her reaction?
She was deeply blessed by it, and I hope she truly takes it to heart.
Brave. I think brave can mean going against the grain and the culture all around in the simplest of ways. In my life, I’m wondering if brave might mean slowing down and doing the hard thing of being present—living each moment fully, not being distracted by all the things. Putting the phone down.
And, on a separate note, this season of life has brought a new friend that just celebrated 5 years of being alive—she had a brain stem stroke in May 5 years ago. She had to relearn how to walk. I watch her with her 3 young kids and am amazed at her bravery and also how God redeems stuff.
I agree, Andrea. Doing our lives the way we feel God wants us to.. if that means we do life differently to our neighbour or our family… that’s super brave.
So pleased you can see the bravery in your friend and tell her so. Lucky her to have a friend like you. Love Tifainé
❤️. That’s it. Thanks for hearing me and thanks for hosting this.
So glad you’re with us!
So I love that we are striving to notice brave things around us in this study, because when we see others be brave it can help them to be brave too. But sometimes, I think when we are looking around we may only see the brave “big” stuff. We don’t always notice the brave, everyday things, that by worldly standards might seem small or little. Thus, its easy for us to think we aren’t being brave if we don’t have a big brave moment to share. I think everyday, showing up, and being who God has called us to be, even in the small things, is brave. For example, even in the study, I have found myself hesitating to comment as everyone is sharing their comments on bravery, this week I am looking at my week thinking, theres not a thing I’ve done thats brave this week. Most people have left Shanghai for the summer and I’m here for another week, just working and trying to get things prepared well for the fall when we return. But there was a moment that I shared something online about how I was feeling at this time of year when people leave, and it unexpectedly spoke to someone that I’m not super close with but who also was feeling the same way. We ended up spontaneously meeting for dinner. Where I was simply present, as Andrea mentioned, we enjoyed dinner and shared about the “China” moments or days, and I also invited her to the study. I think that was brave too and God was able to use that “small” moment to say, I see you, you’re not alone.
My prayer is that all the women in this study are able to share even if they feel they aren’t being brave in any “big” way, because I am confident, they are absolutely being brave several times a day, they just aren’t seeing it. I pray that the women in this study would see themselves and their actions more like God sees them, with value and purpose.
Definitely. Showing up. Keeping on keeping on. Thats just as hard as the big ones. I find that it’s exhausting “keeping on”. I think the smaller, brave moments could be just as life changing as the bigger ones.