God's Brave Women - Mandy's Story

As I sit down to write this I am filled with anxiety, as I have no idea what to write about. I hardly think about myself as BRAVE (wait, who me?) or a writer per say. And to write about being BRAVE seems so strange to me, perhaps self-promoting, if you will. But then again, I haven’t always had a good history of positive self-talk, personal affirmation, or consistent allowance of God to remind me of all who HE knows I am.

So, here I sit. Thinking about what I believe BRAVE means. And I google “definition of brave.” The response that pops up is, “ready to face and endure danger or pain; showing courage” or “endure or face unpleasant conditions or behavior without showing fear.” Ah. Yes.

So basically, being BRAVE can look like facing or enduring something hard, painful, or unpleasant. And when I think about those words, I think about how many times over the course of the day (or my 4+ decades of life that I’ve lived), whether I’ve liked it or not – in situations that are hard, painful, or unpleasant – that I’ve been BRAVE. It’s Every. Single. Day. With varying degrees of difficulty or situation, it’s required me to make a choice that I often don’t want to make, for fear of some kind of failure or mis-step.

In discovering this, my mind is overwhelmed with varying degrees of bravery like: apologizing to a neighbor in-person over a misunderstanding; having countless conversations about puberty with my daughter; not having the answers for everyone’s questions; avoiding the food that isn’t healthy; getting out of an emotionally abusive relationship; moving to another state by myself; running a marathon; taking a chance on a relationship; acknowledging that I am adopted; seeking help for postpartum depression that included trying medication, medication succeeding, and then learning to live through withdrawal after weaning off said medication; caring for my widowed mom; accepting and being at peace with long-term responsibility for my high-functioning special needs sister and her amazing daughter; entering into the mess with friends when you’ve hurt them unintentionally. And then there’s always the unknown of life.

And, all of that used to bring me so much anxiety. But, it’s a new day. And it’s been a new day for a little while now.

You see, despite all of our circumstances and cards we’ve been dealt, there is this God. A God who loves us. A God who knows us. A God who knows what’s coming, wher