YES to GOD study: CH. 12~Living with Courage (Final Chapter)

WELCOME to

or for today, YES to GOD Thursday.

We have come to the final chapter of Micca Campbell's book,

This just so happens to be Micca's first book, but I pray it's not her last.

It was a great tool to learn how to live a life of faith instead of fear.
I know it will be a reference I will pull out often to refresh my memory of how to have fearless living.



And for me, the timing of this book was so God. He knew what I'd be facing in my life with our daughter Alyssa and just put something in my lap that would help me through it. Do I have it down and am living out a fearless life? Not yet, but I'm working on it. And I'm excited that I have a book written by a woman that had to face unimaginable pain to get where God has her today. When her first husband Porter died in the accident, Micca chose to eventually fall on her knees before her King instead of letting Him see her back while He waited for her.
She chose to learn how to walk this path of faith versus fear and God rewarded her obedience by giving her
An Untroubled Heart.


So we head into the final chapter of her book and Bible study and it's not a book I close with ease because I like reading her words. I think she has given us plenty to soak in though. If you haven't read this book and you have fears to overcome, this would be great for you to read.





Before we get to Micca's book though, I want to tell you about the summer study I'll be hosting here on YES to GOD Tuesday's. I wasn't going to do one until August, but feel that I'm supposed to after last night.



This will be a very lighthearted summer read so check it out before you say you're too busy. There will be no linking to your blog with Mr. Linky, discussions will be light and I believe growth with God will be evident during this short read.


Liz Curtis Higgs is well known for her book series of Bad Girls of the Bible.
Those books are a little deeper than I want to do for a summer study,
so I've chosen this small book to do...
Embrace GRACE: Welcome TO THE FORGIVEN LIFE.

"Liz tells the story of grace, forgiveness, and restoration that every one of us----

the wounded, the hurting, the seeking---needs to hear."

~PRISCILLA SHIRER author of He Speaks to Me

"Embrace Grace gives answers, truth, and a map that will take you from shame and guilt to a hope-filled future."

~CAROL KENT, author of When I Lay My Isaac Down

Both of those reviews on the back cover captured my attention and is exactly what my heart needs.

I hope you can join me on Tuesday, June 23, 2009 to discuss the 1st chapter of this book.

Now, if you are looking for a deeper study, then you need to visit Wendy Blight from

Proverbs 31 Ministries who will be starting a blog study of her book,Click here if you want to check that out on her blog.

Wendy has an amazing life story and like Micca, has walked out beforehand what God has entrusted her to write.

So far, there are 100 women signed up to join her on her blog starting

Wednesday, June 17, 2009 discussing chapter 1 of Hidden Joy!

What an AWESOME God we serve!

So, if you are looking for a summer study, start

Embrace Grace here with me on Tuesday, June 23rd

OR

Hidden Joy with Wendy on June 17th!

And please don't think if you join Wendy's study that you'll step on my toes because this is not about me, but all about drawing your heart closer to Jesus.

So dear friend, go where He leads you to go!

And if you need a break then take one and join me in August for the fall study.

Okay...let's sadly wrap this book up.

CHAPTER 12: LIVING WITH COURAGE

Anything in blue is a quote from the book.

Do we see ourselves as we really are--equipped and able to face life with wisdom, love, and courage? Our God is the supplier of these qualities.
In this section Micca shared the story of King Solomon and how he asked God for wisdom. Honestly, I don't think I've ever specifically asked God for wisdom. What would my life looked like if I emulated not only Jesus, but people that are in the Bible such as Solomon and I asked God to give me His wisdom. Gives me goose bumps just thinking about the endless possibilities that come with really living in God's will. Something I don't know if I have ever done 100%.


God cares about every detail of our lives.
The Lord wants to guide us in every decision we make.
The way God guides us into all wisdom is through His Word.
Our true life is revealed through the pages of the Bible.
I love books. Love them.
I don't know who is more of a book addict, me or Kelley.
Seems like every time I call her she is at the Christian bookstore. She even buys me books.
Just today she told me of 4 bargains she has waiting for me in Kansas.
One thing I've learned in blog land and I thought I was alone, is that women read 2-4 books at a time. Just ask a woman what is in her tote bag or no her nightstand and she'll rattle off a few titles. The thing is though, is that I can fill every shelf I have with books about God, but unless I let God lead me and guide me in His Word its all just a bunch of occupied space. I love that Micca said our true life is revealed through the pages of the Bible. She didn't even say her own book, she said the Bible. So by reading and memorizing His Word we will find wisdom laced in the pages.


To become brave Micca tells us we must:
~meditate on the knowledge of God.
But she is quick to point out that wisdom is only a part of the equation.
To build faith that is stronger than fear, we must have a "heart".

What does it mean to have a heart?

It means to be passionately involved.

How?
Jesus tells us we have to love our neighbor.
That takes courage, because Christ's definition of a neighbor goes beyond those who lives next door.

A neighbor is anyone we meet who has a need.



According to Jesus, everyone we meet is our neighbor.
And we're supposed to love them? Really?
Obviously no one warned Jesus about Stranger Danger.

Here are a few excuses to not loving our neighbor.

Insufficiency
Don't want to get involved
Don't want to be bothered
I was seeing eye to eye with Micca on this one and then she said this
...fear, lack of heart, and feelings of inadequacy only rob our witness and our service.


So loving a stranger who has needs takes courage. It's not that Jesus expects us to pick up a hitchhiker on the highway rather, He's talking about the everyday people that we meet.

People that come into our lives in the "weird" ways.
The Divine set-ups.

Micca says this about courage:
not absent of fear
is being brave in spite of fear or hard circumstances
being brave enough to move through our fears

transforms the ordinary into something extraordinary

I've heard this before and so glad Micca reminded us of this:

God never calls us to do something He has not equipped us to do.

This was a very eye opening part of the chapter for me.
When you feel fearful, what's at the source?
Honestly, me, myself and I.
Are you focused on yourself?
Who me? Never! Excuse me, you're blocking the mirror.

Taking our eyes off self an placing them on others helps us to see past our fears to the needs of others.
In all honesty, I have a hard time doing this part of it at times. A lot of the time. Like everyday.

Where has God placed you right now?
To trust Him with my teenage daughter and her babies.

Courage is being brave in spite of our fear.

We can use our fear to find our faith.

We find our faith by doing it afraid.

I love how Micca ended this chapter.

God is big enough for us to place our faith in Him.

Bigger than
~the Enemy
~the unknown
~sickness
~death
~your hurt
~terrorism
~moral collapse

God is big enough!
If you and I dare to believe that He is, then there is nothing we can't do.

Can you imagine a fearless life? Here is some last chapter encouragement from the author...

Trust God

He will equip you

Dare to be courageous

Live out your God-given dreams

Pursue passions and abilities

Take risks

Expand your horizons.

This is the way faith lives-----stronger than all we fear.

Let's take one day at a time and trust God with all of our fears. Let's let Him teach us through His Word.

God wants us to approach Him with all of our needs.

Not just the heart attacks, the cancer, the loss of employment,

but also the cranky moods, the desire to exercise and the bad habit of nail biting.

To God, when we allow Him into every area of our life then it shows Him how we believe in Him completely.

And as He watches us and guides us through our fears He sees the beat of our heart change as it turns from a heart filled with fear to an untroubled heart.

Fearless living is how I want to live.

I have enjoyed every page of this study and also the Bible study at the end of each chapter. I have grown in leaps and bounds in these last 13 weeks and yet I want more of Jesus Christ.

Thank you for riding on this journey with me. You all are such a blessing to me.

Next week no book study, but Embrace Grace will start up on Tuesday, June 23rd!

Micca.

Thank you so much for taking the time to write out what you know about our God. The timing of this book was incredible for me. Facing a lot of unknowns right now I am handling them so different than what I did 13 weeks ago and I have you to thank for that. You and God.

Keep writing and sharing your life with us.

We truly love you.

And when God gives you your next book to write, send it over here.

We'd love to read and discuss it, whatever the topic may be.

Please also tell your family thank you. I know there were probably many nights and days that they had to leave you alone so you could work on your book. Please let them know that there is at least one heart in Nebraska that has moved from living in fear, fears I didn't even know I had, to learning how to trust God in my circumstances.

Soon An Untroubled Heart will be the description of my heart.

If you have something on your own blog to share about this chapter, please sign up under Mr. Linky below so we can stop by and read your thoughts. Thank you to all of you who kept posting. Life does get in the way of these studies and often times people have to drop off. If you did, I just want to encourage you to finish the book. It's worth your time.

Next week there will be no YES to GOD study for us to to discuss, BUT I have something awesome for you to participate in, so y'all come back now!

~Many Blessings~