I've never really thought of myself as a brave person. Never.
In fact for a long time I only saw the failures, the lack of courage, the insecurities. There was an ongoing narrative in my head speaking subtly to me for so long that it didn't really occur to me there was anything wrong with thinking this way. Does any of this sound familiar?
You should have spoken up for yourself at that meeting.
Why are you such a pushover?
You'll never be brave enough to stand up for your kids when they need you to.
These are the voices that I grew used to. Sound familiar?
God worked through a lot of this in me. I still don't really see myself as particularly "brave" but those ongoing insecurity voices are much quieter now. I'm not here to offer any great remedy to those. All I can say is God is good and He wanted to rewire that part of my brain. Over time, He showed me my confidence comes from Him, my security is in Him and so is my worth.
He also made me unsatisfied with the status quo of my life. Sometimes restlessness is what we need to move in the right direction.
It's ironic that years later, at the age of 43, I would start painting "Brave Girls" by what seemed like an accident. Now there are 12 girls in the series with more on the way and the response to them has been overwhelming.
People are resonating with their stories (each Brave Girl has a unique story) and their whimsy. The Brave Girls are here to remind us what true, Biblical bravery looks like. Why it's important. How to stop trying to be brave by worldly standards and start walking in the true bravery God sets before us.
Godly bravery looks like kindness, humility, confidence, love, grace, mercy and yes... chasing those God given dreams in our hearts. These are the stories we need to be telling our children about bravery. These are the lessons we need to help them learn. These are the things we need the next generation to know... they are worthy, they are strong, they are brave and that bravery comes in a far different form than the world shows us.
The Brave Girls are my heroes. They are modeled after who I am longing to be more and more every day.
With God's help... these Brave Girls are you and these Brave Girls are me.
Which Brave Girl speaks to you? Which one reminds you of a friend, daughter, sister, grandmother?
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