be brave. be authentic.

Remember that one time waaaaaaaaay back in July when I said I was going to wear red lipstick for a month? Guess what? I'm still wearing it. Partly cause I like the idea of being a risk taker... not just in theory but in for real life. The lipstick reminds me to be brave. The other part is that I just like the red. It makes me feel glamorous even when I'm sitting around in my sweatpants. Oh yes people, I am wearing the lipstick even in my sweatpants. Why? Cause you never know when you might need the courage to do something extraordinary in your sweatpants that's why. Seriously.

Anyhoo... I started the Red-Lipstick Challenge to do something every day that scares me. After all this time you might be wondering… has it changed me? Am I any braver?

Here are the top ten things I’ve learned about being brave... in no particular order:

 

10. Bravery isn’t always an outward showing of strength & courage… sometimes it’s something that happens internally.

 

9. You can do a lot of crazy brave things with the right kind of encouragement… sometimes from others… sometimes from yourself… & all the time from God.

 

8. Red lipstick is empowering. No wonder my friend Miss Pat, who is in her eighties, is never seen without hers. On a side note, she went tubing behind a boat for the first time just a couple of years ago… Oh yeah, she’s all kinds of spectacular. I hope I will still have her sense of adventure when I am her age.

 

7. Being brave has nothing to do with fear… it’s just making the choice to do that which frightens you anyway .

 

6. If you do little scary things it lights a fire within you to do BIG scary things... doing scary things is faith building.

 

5. Being my authentic self is absolutely terrifying & sometimes painful. I choose to be my authentic self anyway.

4. A little spicy color in your life is a good thing. Wheather that's a new shade of lipstick or a life change or a new relationship. Knockmeoverwithafeather... color aka change can be your friend. Who knew?

3. Risk is not my thing. Security is. But sometimes it's the right thing to risk anyway.

2. Accepting God's best for you requires giving up something deep down inside. It requires the deepest kind of bravery.

1. The Christian journey is not for the faint of heart... if I want to experience God in His fullness, I need to brace myself for the crazy beautiful life He has planned for me.

So I guess you can say, my commitment to wear the Red has changed me. I'm braver than I was a couple of months ago... but I have a long way to go till I can say that I live my life with complete & total reckless abandon. To be honest, now that I've had a little taste of it though... I want it that much more. One day, I will live my life with arms outstretched to receive all the things God has for me. One day...

"Haven’t I commanded you? Strength! Courage!

Don’t be timid; don’t get discouraged. God, your God, is with you every step you take."

-God, Joshua 1:9 (the Message)