In fear and trepidation, I pen a weekly collection of devotions—the Holy Spirit’s call to “be brave” encourages me. I post one blog at a time to the World Wide Web, like a lone balloon released into the air, set free to glorify God.
My mother urged me as a child to be brave when faced with stressful and difficult situations. I was discouraged from turning and fleeing from a challenge to meet new people, enter a competition, or jump off the high diving board. Everything and everyone intimidated me when I was young, but I gradually learned to take risks and leave my fears behind.
One summer, while attending the University of Cincinnati, I worked at Kings Island Amusement Park. At the end of my shift in the live-shows department, I hurried across the park to ride the Racer, a double wooden roller coaster. The fast, steep, curvy hills that enticed me and my co-workers often sent guests running in the opposite direction.
My brother, Robin, is a lifelong surfer. I rode his surfboard a few times as a teenager—enough for me. The waves that stir panic in most people are the ones he eagerly paddles out to catch. God calls us to be brave, like Robin, to climb up on the surfboard with Him and enjoy the ride.
Joyce Meyer wrote, “The best way to overcome anything is to expose it.” Shine the light of truth on your darkest fears. Choose to be brave; do the frightening thing you have feared if you must. Nothing can touch you outside of God’s perfect plan for your life.
I will be brave because God is my eternal stronghold, my light, and my salvation. I hope you will too.
Macy Johnson is a native Floridian living the lake-life in Georgia. She is an instrument of God’s blessings as a writer, church pianist, community accompanist, wife, mother, nana, Bridge player, adoptee, retired auditor, and member of Word Weavers International. Her “God Sightings” are published weekly in the Greensboro Herald-Journal. Find her at www.macymjohnson.com, macymjohnson@gmail.com, and on Facebook as Macy Martin Johnson.