Happy New Year! I am filled with the wonder of a small child this time of year. It is a new day, a new week, a new month and a new year! I love new! I love change, and lives are changing here at C2BU and at Courage House. It has been amazing to welcome girls home to Courage House NorCal and Courage House Tanzania, and to see the journeys of healing and transformation begin.
My own life has changed as well. It has been a change that began with a simple question God asked me eleven years ago …. “Do you have the courage to be you – the you I created?” He whispered to my heart that I was created on purpose for a purpose and if I didn’t go do “it,” it would never get done.
“Every man and woman is born into the world to do something unique and something distinctive and if he or she does not do it, it will never be done.” Dr. Benjamin Mays
Those words create a constant urgency inside of me to be and do all God has created me to. But it does take courage! My life was totally recalibrated when I made the intentional decision to seek God for the answers to the questions “Who am I?” and “Why am I here?” It has been such an incredible journey because when I went in search of Him for my answers, I found ME – the ME He created me to be. Once I realized that I was truly “created on purpose for a purpose” I wanted everyone I knew, and even complete strangers, to also discover this mind-bending; life-altering truth. That is why we created a Courage Conference: a time and place you can just focus on you and dive into the journey of purpose you were created for. A Courage Conference is all about YOU (and your spouse, your friends and your kids, so please invite them too!), and about discovering your true identity so that you (and your family and friends) can fulfill your destiny!
Please join us on February 3 & 4 in Roseville, California for an amazing conference all about discovering the you God created you to be! Adventure Christian Church is our host. My friends Barb Wilson, Aquanetta Gordon and Clayton Butler will also be speaking and The Reel, Chaya and Stephanie Midthun will be performing. There will be music, dance, drama and amazing stories of ordinary people doing extraordinary things to change their world, one individual at time. Please join us. And if you don’t live in our area, contact us at c2bu.org and we’ll bring a Courage Conference to you! I pray you have the courage to be you!
The Courage To Be Me
By Jenny Williamson
There are two me’s
inside of me.
The one I am.
The one I long to be.
The one I am
is familiar and true.
She expects so little of me,
yet dreams of more, too.
She seems somewhat less
while wanting something more.
But comfort surrounds her soul,
keeping her safe to the core.
Now that other ME,
inside of me,
is the opposite for sure.
She plots and plans
her escape from the same.
She longs to do more,
to see more,
to be more,
all the while using my name!
The one me and the other
were once the same child.
But as time hurried onward
I lost her somehow.
I gradually began
wanting others to see,
just a mirror, a reflection
of themselves, instead of me.
I am not aware
of when the thought first occurred.
Or when I recognized the truth,
but slowly I heard,
“How did this happen or come to be?
When did you become less,
so much less
that I designed you to be?”
At first I grew sad,
experienced a terrible ache.
I began to ponder
all that was at stake.
Another thought surfaced,
as scary as the last,
what if others needed me to be me?
Then I better become me, and fast!
A heavy sigh I let out,
as I began to pray.
“Lord grant me the courage,
(on this very day)
to cease to be
more of the same.
But for me to become me
and forever remain.”
I then asked a question
of my Father so true,
“What does she look like—
this little girl I once knew?”
“Ah,” he said,
“In her I delight—
let me tell you her secrets
and how to give her life.”
“She’s as beautiful as a sunset.
An original of mine.
Man’s approval does not matter,
as she completes her design.
She sings with the angels,
dances only for My smile.
Laughs with abandon,
knowing she is here for a short while.”
“What are you afraid of?”
My Father asked of me.
“Don’t you know by now
your purpose to be?
Lean close while I tell you
what you are longing to know.
I created you only; only so—
that you would be the “me” I designed you to be.”
“Nothing more, my beloved one.
Settling for less cannot be done.
Take my hand and with courage soar
To the dreams and destiny
I have in store.
Safety and comfort are not yours to be
But a life lived fully so others can see
that they too were created with a destiny.”