I AM NOT ASHAMED TO BE BOLD

            This summer has been amazing, hard, and full of wonderful learning experiences. The greatest thing I have learned it to not be ashamed to be bold. To be bold and confident with who I am. People may think I have confidence, but at times, I struggle with putting my confidence in God. God has taught me a lot this summer about boldness and I thought I would share a few experiences.

 I spent two weeks volunteering at a camp in South Dakota this summer. God used these kids to remind me not to be ashamed, to be bold and confident. Here are their stories:

One evening a little girl went crying to her friend saying she was homesick and wanted to go home. The sincerity in the little girl’s voice was clear. As her friend saw her dilemma she hugged her crying friend and had empathy for her as she tried to comfort her. Neither girl was ashamed of who they were. Both girls showed genuine personalities that didn’t care about what others thought. They sought confidence from each other as friends helping friends. 

One little boy started to walk with me as we headed to a new camp activity. As we walked he stated, “You know what I’ve been praying for recently? That God would heal my mom who is very sick.” I looked at him and saw the hope he had for God to heal his mom. He then continued to emphasize his knowledge that God can choose to do miracles whether it’s what we want to happen or something better that God has planned. This little boy knew that God could heal his mom on earth or heal her in Heaven. He was not ashamed to put his faith in God. Our God who can do anything. This little boy showed great strength as he spoke about his knowledge of God. As we neared the next activity, I told him that I’d be praying for him and his mom. The little boy looked at me with tears in his eyes and said, “Oh, thank you, I would really appreciate your prayers for my mom. Some days it’s hard and knowing other people care means a lot.”  He smiled at me and then ran off to join the next activity. I then sat down and thanked God for this learning experience to see God from a child’s eyes.

Remember what it’s like to have that simple faith of a child? Sometimes it’s easy to forget and we get caught up in life. We forget that it’s ok to live life simply and to have a child-like faith.

To be bold and confident in our faith.

I know I am not ashamed of my faith in Jesus Christ. Yet there are times, I lack the boldness and confidence to speak out. To share my faith no matter what the cost. The ability to say life is hard or life is good isn’t hard for humans. Christians struggle with lacking confidence to speak out.  The boldness to say out loud to strangers, “I am not ashamed of my faith in Jesus Christ.” That is something I’m learning. It’s one thing to say you’re a Christian. It’s another thing to be bold and speak with confidence that you follow God no matter what the cost.

I was able to be bold recently and talked to a few strangers about my faith in God. One stranger started off by asking if I feared the future. Without even realizing how bold and confident I was on the subject I stated, “Why should I fear the future? If I die tomorrow I go to Heaven. If life becomes hard in ten seconds my hope is in Jesus. I have no reason to fear the future.” The other stranger looked at me with shock and said, “I’m amazed by your faith in God, you really know what you believe.”  I looked them both in the eye and said, “You can have that confidence and boldness in Jesus Christ too. Do you want it?” Their eyes darted away and mumbled, “Naw, that’s ok. I’m not ready yet.” “It’s your decision,” I responded, “The first step is knowing that Jesus loves you no matter what you’ve done.” They both smiled and started to walk away saying that maybe soon they would find confidence to not be ashamed and to find God.

Those two strangers made me realize how much God has done in my life this summer to not be ashamed to be bold in what I believe in. I have struggled knowing if boldness and confidence in Christ is pushy. But this summer I learned that having boldness and confidence in something isn’t pushy. It simply makes the listener uncomfortable because they are still learning to be bold. No matter which person you are, it's ok. We are all learning things at different times in life. As for me this is what I've learned this summer.

I am not ashamed to be bold.

I am not ashamed to have confidence.

I am so thankful for all that I’ve learned this summer about my boldness in Christ and not fearing what others think. This is who I am and the world cannot tell me any different. My faith had been made stronger this summer. God used two little kids to teach me about having confidence in Him.

God is good!