God's Brave Women - Gena's Story

God's Brave Women - Gena's Story

It was sometime last fall, when my twelve-year-old daughter tossed a question at me out of the blue. She asked, “Mom, are you ever afraid”? I replied that I had worries like many other parents about their children, wives about their husbands and children about their parents. I've worried about bills and making ends meet at times. But I told her that I was not really afraid of anything. In the moment, I felt like I was being honest with her. I've lived a life of bravery because I have known one too many people who were held captive by fear. Failing to live a full life because the what-if's and worries consumed them. Fear paralyzed. Fear won. I wouldn't dare to let fear control my life. It was a decision I made and was committed to.

If you were to speak with my friends, they would probably tell you that I am one of the bravest people they know. They would use the word fearless to describe me. Years of witnessing me try my hand at new things, embracing change, walking confidently into the unknown and barging through battles victorious. This is what people see. Not that I forge a false, Instagram-worthy identity of bravery for the sake of people's opinions... it's just who I am.

After my daughter sprung that question on me, I began to ponder what she was really asking of me. I came to realize the truth – I am very much afraid, but I choose to not be pinned down by fear. Bravery is not the absence of fear but, rather, stepping out or acting in spite of fear. Bravery in spite of fear is rooted in a complete and total trust and dependence on God to protect and provide.

"Bravery is not the absence of fear but, rather, stepping out or acting in spite of fear. Bravery in spite of fear is rooted in a complete and total trust and dependence on God to protect and provide."

In February of this year, I received a phone call that I never could have anticipated. We were being asked to take temporary guardianship of two children. A teenage boy and a little girl would come to live with us for several months. In the moment of that ca