BRAVE, Because McDonald's Fries Cannot be the Way We Go
The other day a bunch of us and our kiddos were at McDonald’s (because apparently Chipotle doesn’t have a kids’ play place yet), and my littlest wanted to see if he could exchange out his toy. I wavered between taking him back to the counter to get a new one vs. just saying “you’re fine, go play”. Nice mom won, so we went up to the counter.
When we got there the wait was horrible, and when someone did help she ended up having to go back to some super secret back closet where all their special toys live. At this point I am SLOWLY DYING on the inside. Not because of the service, and not because I was annoyed by my son’s request.
BECAUSE MY FRIES WERE GETTING COLD.
I hate cold food that should be eaten hot. I’m the same way at home, and I usually serve myself last, which might look on the outside like I’m an amazingly selfless person, putting others first. When in fact I’m truly just extremely selfish in this area and want my food pulled off the stove at the last possible moment before I get to sit down and eat it.
Lukewarm is awful.
Lukewarm is what I want to avoid. In so many areas of my life.
Jesus spoke about a lukewarm bunch of people in Revelation 3. Their actions and how they were choosing to live their lives made him want to throw up. He wanted them to be either hot or cold, to be people that believed strongly and acted with passion. One way or another. Not ones that stayed in the middle, unmoved, uncaring, apathetic to what God was asking them to do.
I don’t want that, and I’m guessing neither do you.
We are in our final week of our BRAVE Series. We’ve covered two Brave Truths, one, there is purpose for the place God has you, and two, you must spend time in His presence to understand that purpose.
Which leads us to today.
Brave Truth #3: Once you know that purpose, walk it out. With passion.
Queen Esther understood that on a very personal level, saying “I will go in to the king and plead my people’s case, even though it means breaking the law. And if I die, then I die!”
Esther had no guarantees past that statement. After those three days of fasting and praying, it says in Chapter 5 that she put on her royal robes and walked towards the king’s inner court.
Imagine her fear. Imagine her thoughts. Each step moving her closer to where the king sat, knowing that she may in fact, die. She didn’t know the rest of the story, she was just like you and I in that moment. All she knew what was right in front of her. The stakes were high, but she knew she had no other choice but to be brave.
We want that, don’t we? We want to be brave.
- We want to be brave for ourselves, for our families.
- We want to stand up for what we believe
- We want to reach out and help those who are hurting
- To stand up and say NO
- To stand up and say YES
Yes, we want to live brave lives. But so often what happens, is we get stuck in points 1 & 2. We recognize that there’s a purpose for our place, we spend time in His presence, but then…then, for lots of different reasons, we don’t move. So often we feel something rising up inside of us, a knowing or passion, that God has birthed in us after we’ve spent time with Him.
Yet we do not move forward.
I get that. It is so hard to live this life bravely, to live with passion. It’s hard to step up and out and move forward. I think there’s three reasons this happens:
We get scared. Scared to step out into what we believe God is calling us to be. Scared that we will fail. Scared that others will laugh or make light of our dreams.
We get discouraged. We feel defeated because we don’t think we can do it. Or we feel that nothing will ever change, so why try.
But beyond being afraid or even discouraged, so often we just get stuck. We get in the habit of living a comfortable life. We don’t want to rock the boat because our current waves are nice and understood. As a born non-boat-rocker, I get this one. Just keep it safe, close to shore, close to what is known. But I’ve learned something incredible over the years:
God has not called me to live life close to the shore.
He’s called me to live life close to Him.
This is incredible, and terrifying all at once. Because ultimately that means I have to place my deepest trust in Him. I have to answer the question: what do I believe about my God? Do I believe that if He’s calling me to do something, He will be with me?
Time and time again, I can look back on my life when the waves were high and He asked me to go with Him, away from the shore. Every single time I see His faithfulness, His love and His constant presence. Never, not once, did He leave me.
Not once.
What is God asking you to do?
Will you take that big bold step of faith and do it? Will you live this summer with passion and courage?
For every single one of us, it’s so tempting to just let time slip, let that passion fade, and allow life to become…lukewarm.
Lukewarm is awful. Let’s determine to be women who truly live, because I believe that we are never more fully alive than when we are living this one and only life BRAVE.
Be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid or discouraged. For the Lord your God is with you wherever you go. Joshua 1:9
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How are you living bravely this summer? We want to hear from you! Something powerful happens when we share our story – it brings encouragement and strength to so many others. Share yours below.
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I am so thankful that a friend introduced me to your blog! I’ve been catching up with the Brave series and feel so inspired and encouraged in a way I didn’t see coming. In combination with your blogs on Brave and your speaking on the Life With Lisa Williams podcast on passion I was convinced God had something “bigger” planned for me. My heart was pumping, my tummy had butterflies and I was praying for God’s direction. Thinking He was going to open some new door for me and lead me into something great. I felt it in my bones. However, when I read the words “lukewarm is awful” in this blog this morning, I felt as though God hit me over the head with a baseball bat. He has already given me a place, a purpose and design for my life, and I have been doing it “lukewarm”. Homeschooling. Years ago when God called me to homeschool the kids, I was on fire for it! I did it with passion, excitement, with God’s leading and felt His purpose in it. However, over the years I’ve gotten complacent. In fact, I wanted more. I wanted a bigger platform. I wanted to touch more than “just 2” kid’s lives. I want to impact the masses! In reading your words, listening to you speak and spending time in His presence, I have finally heard Him remind me about the calling He has given me. It’s time to stop wanting more and to do what He has called me to do and to do it well. With passion. With purpose. To stop doing it the ‘easy’ way. After all, the 2 kid’s whose lives are being impacted by homeschooling are the 2 most important kids in my life. They are the one’s God has entrusted to me and they are the ones He has called me to lead. When I started this journey of being brave and discovering His purpose for me I was not prepared to discover that He wasn’t going to bring something new into my life. Instead, He was asking me to do, what I was already doing, better. To live it out with passion and to stop being lukewarm.
Thank you for your inspiration Julie! #LiveForHeaven
Hannah, this is so packed with wisdom, thank you for sharing your heart. I’m so grateful you are here with you, what a high calling it is to raise our children. God bless you with strength and continued courage!
This has been an exceptional series. I’ve appreciated the openness and warmth; the suggestions and the Scripture.
What I would like to know is this — is there anyone who has written on what it means to live bravely with a family in tow? With a spouse who doesn’t have that same passion / “voice”? I think that sometimes we get stuck in #1 and 2 not simply because we’re not willing to be brave and step out in #3, but because we’re weighted down — positively, mind you — by our love, our family, our obligations. I have a hard time wanting to figure out what it means to live bravely, because my past experience has told me that it doesn’t matter what I “figure out,” it isn’t going to happen anyway.
Maybe this is where you tell me to trust God with this. And I hear that. I do.
But I’d also love to hear stories from those who were in a situation where they felt as though they knew what it meant to live bravely, and yet what that meant in terms of family.
Always such a good read; thank you SO MUCH!
Erin, these are such good questions, and real life. These are not questions that can easily be figured out in 200 words or less, How do we raise our families, yet not lose ourselves in the midst of it all…what do we do with all these dreams? yes, absolutely trust God, of course. Keep bringing every drop of this to the Lord, and continue to ask Him what He desires for this season. He loves you, so very much.