Book Club Thursday- The Confident Woman Chapter Sixteen

This week's chapter was "Become A Courageous Woman". We all need courage. No matter what we face in our lives, we all need courage. Courage to face the day. Courage to be the wife that we need to be. Courage to face an uncertain future as we leave one chapter of our lives and enter another. Courage to parent the way God directs us and not the way society prefers.

I have told you these things, so that in Me you may have [perfect] peace and confidence. In the world you have tribulation and trials and distress and frustration, but be of good cheer[take courage; be confident, certain, undaunted]! For I have overcome the world [I have deprived it of power to harm you and have conquered it for you.] John 16:33

God gives courage, the devil gives dis-courage. Anytime there is something positive happening in our lives, satan is guaranteed to try to discourage us in some way. When God is using us the most, that is when satan tries his hardest to bring discouragement into our lives. And although God is always standing beside us ready to give us the courage to face what lies ahead of us, we generally accept the discouragement satan puts in our path. We need to refuse the dis-courage from satan, and grab hold of the courage that God is ready and waiting to offer us.

Courage is contagious, but it also opens up the door for God's deliverance to take place. Joyce gave several stories of uncommon courage. The one that stayed with me was the story of a group of Christians in Japan who were given an ultimatum- recant their faith in Christ or drown. The Christians met together to decide what they would do. They voted to die for their faith. The following day, the policeman who had given the Christians the ultimatum and had taunted the Christians about their decision to die for their faith drowned during a fishing accident in the same river he had planned on drowning the Christians in. Their act of courage opened up the doors to God's deliverance for them.

So many times we consider the cost of courage and whether it is worth the price. But trusting that God will be true to His Word and believing that He will give us the faith and courage to handle the situation at hand will open doors that we never thought possible.

May God give you the courage you need to face whatever situations are in your life right now.

Don't forget to check out Kristi's blog to read her thoughts on this chapter.