i am afraid of spiders.

i am afraid of flying.

i am afraid i am not good enough.

much of my life has been defined by my fears.

ever since i was a little girl i’ve been afraid.  the green drapes in my bedroom were the same color as the wicked witch of the west (I’m certain), someone might break into the house, airplanes just do not make sense, and what if I am not doing enough?!

i’ve made many decisions based upon fear.  i’ve answered opportunity over and over again with a “no” based upon my calculations of what could happen and what might go wrong.

other times, I’ve taken the advice to “just do it afraid” (thank you, Joyce Meyer) and managed to sweat my way through things that terrify me.  as i’ve gotten older, i’ve found that regret feels worse than fear and i’m finding, that i’d rather feel fear than regret. i’ve used this thought to filter more recent decisions.

last spring, i sweated and breathed deeply for 8 hours on a plane over the ocean to go on an overseas trip that i didn’t want to regret taking. it was during that trip that i was chased down with the truth that…

C O U R A G E  is there for the taking.  

Psalm 31:24 says, “Be strong and let your heart take courage, all you who wait for, hope for and expect the Lord!”

the truth is, it’s not a matter of mustering up enough courage or finding it, its just a matter of taking it.  and notice it starts with, “LET your heart”…..”take courage.”

letting your heart take it is the starting place.  allowing yourself is the place where courage grows.  so let go. let go of what you think you can or can’t do (or, what others have told you can or can’t do), who you are, who you were, and who you are afraid to be and LET your heart (your true self) take courage.  take courage to be who god has created you to be.  live and enjoy the life he has designed for you!

*this is a post i wrote for original.  you can read the rest of the post here (. . . .sometimes we take courage + start to sink)

more soulfull posts here (and, a bit on peace).