hand-delivered messages

Ironically...or maybe not so much...part of my year of courage, begins with me stepping out in some things that stretch me beyond my comfort zone.  One of the things has to do with giving myself permission to try to stir up and tap into some creative sides of me that I have long said I simply didn't have time to focus on.  Do I have time now?  Well, probably (and realistically) no more so than I ever have...but sometimes we just need to go for it, and choose to make some things priority, that simply weren't in the past.  For me, this year, this will be writing.  Writing in various formats, which yet remain to be seen.  However, the thoughts of intentionally pursuing any of it scares the bejeebers out of me.  But, I've been praying, daily, that if this is something God wants to use for whatever His purposes are, then I want to be a willing participant.  Even if it goes no further than teaching me something about myself.  And almost daily, God prompts me to keep going...through something I read, a song or a word of encouragement.  Today's encouragement (or rather, one of them) has been through this quote from Emily Freeman, author and blogger (as shared by Simple Mom, Tsh on Facebook today):

"Creativity actually births courage. It comes after, not before. If you wait until you feel ready, you could be stuck in your small story for a very long time. Dare to see the art in everything, take small risks with great faith. You may find the fear fade a bit, and courage just might rise up within you like two great walls of water on either side, high enough for you to get lost in a good way in the bigness of it all."

Surely the message of cultivate creativity to birth courage was God's personal, hand-delivered message to me today...for which I am thankful and humbled.

Do you see God's personal messages to you today?  The gentle encouragement of His loving hand?  Where do you find them in the midst of your day?

 

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