“Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you” Deuteronomy 31:6 NIV.
“…but live content with what you have, for you always have God’s presence. For hasn’t he promised you, “I will never leave you alone, never! And I will not loosen my grip on your life!” Hebrews 13:5 TPT
Bold and courageous, I am sure many of us have thoughts and images that come to mind when we see this word. So often, they are attributed to military people, tall, buff, and stoic people in our society? Someone that doesn’t let anything get to them and pushes through pain doesn’t cry. I wonder if you are willing to set your thoughts aside for a moment and go on a journey with me.
Imagine a little child alone in the basement standing there alone holding a stuffed animal really tight, frozen. The child feels scared, terrified and alone, desiring to be bold and courageous but totally overwhelmed and uncertain. How would you help this little child? What would be your approach to teaching them what being bold and courageous is? Would you leave or shut down? Would you tell them to stop being scared and toughen up? What if you were the one that child was terrified of? Would that change your approach?
That was a visual of me as a child. My current feelings of fear brought me back to this place about 4 or 5 years old. When someone would yell, my body responded as it should, but I didn’t have anyone to help me learn that this is a normal response to something scary. Instead, I thought it was my fault and that I should not have these feelings. When I did try to speak up on how I felt, it was disregarded and told I was too sensitive. This is emotional abandonment. I believe God was present back then, but I could not see him or hear him because I was so disconnected from the His spirit within me.
God has provided a safe place through counselling spaces to help me connect to Him that is not based on external experiences but a deep internal one. That means choosing to face my fears courageously. Recently, I bravely visualized that little girl in that moment again, and I invited my adult self and Jesus to be there with me. Jesus squatted down to my level and just looked at me so tenderly and lovingly into my eyes, letting me know it’s okay and it’s not my fault, and then we all embraced each other with a hug. What if we transformed the word bold and courageous to look like that little girl who allowed Jesus’ love and care inside her? What if it looked like Jesus and our adult selves, validating, understanding and knowing our emotions so that we can let others comfort us? What if it looked like us owning our emotional responses so that others don’t think something is wrong with them? I wonder if this way, we would know the deep embodied truth of God’s Word that we will never be alone, as we courageously show up for ourselves and others while boldly believing God’s promises.
