Step out to find out…
The wicked run away when no one is chasing them. But the Godly are as bold as lions. – Proverbs 28:1
The 3 Cs in life: Chance. Choice. Change. You must choose to take the chance if you want anything in life to change.
Since I was young, I’ve always approached life just a tad bit differently. I never really fit into the borders and boundaries some people created, and I often felt it.
As life brought opportunities my way, I kept being moved toward what allowed me to lead, create, be in front, and move people forward — opportunities that stretched me and rarely formed invisible borders.
Laurie Stewart gave me an image of what I felt inside yet couldn’t explain…
When I was 16, I attended the State Student Council leadership conference in Bismarck, North Dakota. We sat on a cold, hard, gray floor while a speaker named Laurie Stewart engaged us in personal growth exercises. It was then that something deep within me clicked. I knew at that moment I would be “her” someday. I loved what she sparked in me and wanted to do the same for other leaders.
When we adjourned and returned to our lives, I wrote her a note. Her reply has been tucked into my vision journal, stamped with a clear and vivid personal promise: At age 40, I would start a business that would guide others to their inner brilliance, whatever that might look like for them.
For the next couple of decades, I continued to be obsessed with personal growth - the “inside” of a person fascinates me.
Every step of the way, I kept going. I kept doing. I kept leaning into the next right thing. I kept…Reading. Praying. Drafting. Filing. Listening. Writing. Doing. Moving. I kept moving because I knew God was up to something.
When my next move was to start my dream business, my mind became a battlefield of attacks with doubts, insecurities, fears, and everything in between, screaming for me to shrink back.
Rather than shrinking back, I focused on what inspired me to keep going. I placed my vision on the “brave ones” who’ve profoundly impacted my life because they chose to take a chance on themselves; they decided to keep going. They chose unwavering trust and pressed ahead, daily, toward God’s goal for their lives.
This image overwhelmed me with gratitude and inspired me never to put God in a box. Instead, do as Proverbs 28:1 instructs: Be bold as a lion, step out and find out, live in “my brave,” and be ALL that God’s designed me to be—not half of it or three-quarters of it, but ALL.
What God invites us to do will always be greater than the resources we start with.
Living with the hand of God upon us means that, at times, we’ll be asked to act despite the evidence - and when we choose “brave,” we watch the evidence change. It’s not automatic or easy; it’s not in our comfort zone. Yet borders expand when we listen to and run toward that “thing” from within. “Here I am, Lord, send me!” -Isaiah 6:8
I pray that we recognize where God wants us to be bold as a lion and honor the small, incremental ways he’s working to help us embrace “our brave” with humility and obedience. It would be so exciting to accomplish it all quickly, but so often, things don’t happen that way. I pray that we can persevere as we move forward, step by step, little by little, dependent on him, giving God room to move.
“For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” - Ephesians 2:10
P.S. A year into starting my business, I found Laurie Stewart and shared how her reply (from many years back) has “lived” in my vision journal and inspired me to keep going. To never stop dreaming. Step out to find out!
Photo by Averee Kreutzfeldt at Bar 33 Ranch, Blaisdell, North Dakota