Shelly A. Faust

Swing Like No One is Watching

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“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)

Week after week I watch my boy strap on his helmet, grab his bat and walk trembling to the batter’s box. Each time the ball comes, he stands paralyzed, unable to move. Starting Little League baseball as a rookie 10-year-old can be quite intimidating, especially in a small Texas town where most of your teammates have been playing since birth.

But something about this night feels different . . .
(Please join me over at Proverbs 31 Ministries where I’m sharing part of my story today)

Breaking Up With Comfortable and Finally, A Stamp in My Passport

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First Passport stamp

Way back in January, I was invited to serve on the Hospitality Team for the Klove Cruise. One morning during our devotion time, Bob Goff threw a medal from the stage and it landed at my feet. God whispered to my heart that this year would require bravery and courage. Eight months later I’m waking up in Canada and getting read to speak at my first international women’s event.

The night before I left, my ten year old begged me not to leave because “you’re the glue that holds this family together” and “who’s going to remind me to brush my teeth?” and “while you’re gone my hair will probably look like Napoleon Dynamite.” (Just a tad dramatic)

So upon departure, yeah, my heart needed a little courage. But God is a God who is faithful and promises to go with us on these new adventures that often require bravery and are sure to stretch us outside of our comfortable places (like a stay at home mama from Texas flying to Canada to deliver a word, encourage some hearts, and offer freedom to others who might be tempted to resist an assignment outside of their natural abilities and strength).

Responding to and answering the call of God, wherever it may lead us (across the oceans, to the ends of the earth, to our neighbor’s house, or to the neglected corners of our own community) is costly. Not might be, not could be, IS. It requires a surrendering of the things you hold the tightest. And just when you think you’ve trusted Him in all places, He tugs at a part of you still connected to your own confidence, strength, or ability to control.

I boarded my plane, (medal securely attached to my backpack, Joshua 1:9 strategically tucked into my heart), and stepped further into this new season God has called me to.

“Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous! Do not be terrified or dismayed (intimidated), for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” Joshua 1:9

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Steps of obedience are very often followed by blessings of bravery. A bravery not in and of ourselves, but in the One true and living God. He makes us brave with a courage confident in a God who goes before us and has already prepared the way. A God who knows all things and makes all things possible.

So, good morning from Canada!

Yesterday was quite the adventure, as my time in the airport usually is for some strange reason. After being delayed in Houston, I missed two connecting flights but finally made it to Canada.

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From out of my uncomfortable places, I’m praying God will bring comfort and bravery to others. I’m praying He will be glorified and move among these women in this little camp hidden in the beautiful landscape of His own masterfully designed creation.

Because I think He has a way of calling us out to call others in. Calling us out of ourselves, out of this world, out of faithless living.

And into a realm of Kingdom living right here on this ground.

So, I’m breaking up with comfortable. It’s just not working anymore.

How about you? Are you hearing a call from deep within to step outside of the places you’ve been scared to move past? Those places that have kept your mouth shut? Those places that have prevented your feet from walking and your hands from being lifted in surrender?

I’m not just talking about getting on an airplane or speaking at a women’s retreat. There are more things inside of our comfortable zone holding us captive than we realize. Breaking up with comfortable could mean:

No matter what it is that’s stretching you outside of your comfortable place, God has already gone before you and prepared the way. Go ahead, break up with comfortable.

What is God is asking you to do that is outside of your comfortable place? 

Brave Is For the Small Things, Too

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Every new year I ask God to give me a word, scripture or theme as a focus for the next fifty-two weeks. It was January and I was in the middle of the Bahamas on the Klove Cruise. Still no word for the year but I was determined to hear God speak. I asked my friend and cabin-mate Angie to pray and believe with me.

Little did I know my word for the year would be thrown at me (literally) before I had my second cup of coffee the next morning.

We made our way to the front of the theater to get up close and personal with Bob Goff for our early morning devotion. If you’ve ever heard Bob speak or read his book, Love Does, you know he has a habit of giving away medals of bravery and such. As he was talking about brave and courageous, he tossed a medal to the audience and it landed right at my feet. I knew instantly this was the word I’d been asking God for but part of me wanted to leave it there on the floor (or throw it to my neighbor). Because BRAVE is a big word, right? Brave is for the hard stuff. Brave is the leave-your-comfort-zone and jump-off-the-cliff and look-fear-in-the-face-and-do-it-anyway kind of word.

All the stuff I’d been posting about but never really doing.

Yes, brave is a big word.

But brave is for the small things, too. Brave is for all the things that look like the small things but are actually the big things.

 

Brave is for the small things

Like believing God will do what He says He will do.

And trusting that even when we can’t, He can.

Like writing that hard blog post or finishing your book or speaking in front of a group or having that conversation you’ve been putting off.

Like keeping covenants when you don’t want to, sticking to commitments even when it’s hard, going when God says go, and staying when God says stay.

So this morning I made a list of faith statements for those times my heart wants to feel the opposite of brave, whether in the big things or the small things. And maybe life is requiring you to be brave, too? This is me, friend, throwing you a medal. :)

  • If I have faith the size of a mustard seed, I will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible to me (Matthew 17:20).
  • With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible (Matthew 19:26).
  • I will be strong and courageous. I will not be terrified or discouraged because the Lord my God goes with me wherever I go (Joshua 1:9).
  • Because I know His name, I will trust in Him. He has never forsaken those who seek Him and He will never forsake me (Psalm 9:10).
  • I put my hope in God alone and my soul finds rest (Psalm 62:5).
  • I will trust God and acknowledge Him in all I do and He will make my paths straight (Proverbs 3:5-6).
  • God has not given me a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love, and of self-discipline (2 Timothy 1:7)
  • Because I have set the Lord before me, I will not be shaken or moved (Psalm 16:8)

Today, I’m joining Suzie Eller and a host of other #brave women as we all learn to #livefree. You can read their stories HERE.

livefreethursday

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