I love reading. I always have. I can sit down for HOURS with a book and be perfectly content, getting lost in the pages of the story.

I started reading this series by Janette Oke and I must say, I’m a big fan. I love the romance, the faith & the setting of some unknown, uncivilized land. I won’t tell you the whole story since I think you should read it yourself, but the main character is a woman named Elizabeth. She’s in her early twenties, from a very well-off family, and she decides to go be a teacher in a town that has never, ever had a school. It’s about her struggle to survive on her own in an unknown land, and how she falls in love along the way.

Sounds pretty cliché, right? Needless to say, the romantic in me is loving it. A lot.

And it got me thinking about courage.

“Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” Joshua 1:9

I don’t think I could have done what Elizabeth did… and maybe that’s why I’m so intrigued with the book. Now, I like to THINK I would have. I like to think I would have been that woman to trust the Lord SO MUCH that I would pack up everything I owned in a few trunks, venture across the country completely alone, move into a one room school house & deal with the perils of the land… but honestly, y’all, I wouldn’t have. I wouldn’t have willingly left my family, my home, my familiarities & my upper class sense of belonging to live a dirty, dangerous & hard life.

Would you?

The Lord doesn’t ask us to be courageous and follow His lead. He COMMANDS us to. “Where you go, I go. Where you stay, I’ll stay. Where you live, I’ll live. I will follow you” That song came on the radio on my way to work this morning & I really, truly listened to the lyrics… to the prayer behind the catchy music. “I will follow you” WHEREVER you lead. And I will not be frightened or dismayed… because You are with me.

Now, I’m not about to tell you that Matt and I are packing up and moving to a foreign country to live off the land 🙂 At least, we don’t have any plans of doing that!!! But, being courageous isn’t just in those extreme circumstances. Being courageous is something we should do all the time, in EVERY circumstance. Doing the Contentment Challenge takes courage, y’all. And we are not to be frightened by this path we are on. Being a CHRISTIAN, walking the narrow path… that takes courage. And we are COMMANDED to do it knowing the Lord is on our side.

In the littlest, smallest, most mundane tasks of this life we are called to take courage & walk bravely with our God. Not because we can do it. But because we have HIM, and He can do it all.

My prayer is that I have more courage in the Lord’s call, and that I am not frightened by the unknown or the things I don’t understand…  my prayer is that I have a little bit more of Elizabeth in me. That instead of running from the unknown (like Noah), or pretending to be content with where I am in my life, I have courage in the hope of Jesus. That I take a big chance if He’s calling me to. For her, that meant packing up & moving across the country. For me, it’s taking on a different form… but it’s still taking a lot of courage. Really awesome, God-trusting courage.

xo! kat

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