May 19, 2025
“A ship in the harbor is safe, but that is not what ships are built for.” – John Shedd
Since I was young, I’ve always approached life just a tad bit differently. I never really fit into the borders and boundaries some people created, and I often felt it.
As life brought opportunities my way, I kept being moved toward what allowed me to lead, create, be in front, and move people forward — opportunities that stretched me and rarely formed invisible borders.
Laurie Stewart gave me an image of what I felt inside, yet couldn’t explain…
When I was 16, I attended a state leadership conference in Bismarck, North Dakota. We sat on a cold, hard, gray floor while a speaker named Laurie Stewart engaged us in personal growth exercises. It was then that something deep within me clicked. I knew at that moment I would be “her” someday. I loved what she sparked in me and wanted to do the same for others.
I wrote her a note when we adjourned and returned to our lives. Her reply has been tucked into my vision journal, stamped with a clear and vivid personal promise: At age 40, I would start a business doing what she does.
I continued to be obsessed with personal growth for the next few decades. I am fascinated by the “inside” of a person.
Every step of the way, I kept going. I kept doing. I kept leaning into the next right thing. I kept…Reading. Praying. Drafting. Filing. Listening. Writing. Doing. Moving. I kept moving because I knew God was up to something.
When my next move was to start my dream business, my mind became a battlefield of attacks with doubts, insecurities, fears, and everything in between, screaming for me to shrink back.
Rather than shrinking back, I focused on what inspired me to keep going. I placed my vision on the “brave ones” who’ve profoundly impacted my life because they chose to take a chance on themselves; they decided to keep going. They chose unwavering trust and pressed ahead, daily, toward God’s goal for their lives.
This image overwhelmed me with gratitude and inspired me never to put God in a box. Instead, do as Proverbs 28:1 instructs: Be bold as a lion, step out and find out, live in “my brave,” and be ALL that God’s designed me to be—not half or three-quarters of it, but ALL.
What God invites us to do will always be greater than the resources we start with. Living with God's hand upon us means that, at times, we’ll be asked to act despite the evidence, and when we choose “brave,” we watch the evidence change. It’s not automatic or easy; it’s not in our comfort zone. Yet borders expand when we listen to and run toward that “thing” from within.
I pray that you recognize where God wants you to be bold as a lion and honor the small, incremental ways he’s working to help embrace “your brave” with humility and obedience. It would be so exciting to accomplish it all quickly, but so often, things don’t happen that way. I pray that we can persevere as we move forward, step by step, little by little, dependent on him, giving God room to move.
If we want to claim God‘s best for us, we shouldn’t plan on spending too much time in our present comfort zone. When we take on more territory, we will always move through predictable cycles of comfort, discomfort, and comfort again.
Comfort. You have feelings of rest and security as you occupy your territory.
Discomfort. Your feelings of fear, being overwhelmed, and wanting to retreat from the new challenge.
Comfort. You have exhilaration, greater faith, thankfulness, and a return to rest.
Countless people allow fear to stop them in their tracks because they assume that the feeling of fear is a red light from God. Yet, when you fear, we are told to “take courage.” Those who achieve greatness run toward the discomfort zone because that’s the primary place where borders expand.
When we follow God, He always comes knocking with a bigger idea. His idea for you will be big because, as Hudson Taylor states, “God’s work done in God’s way never lacks supply.”
Listen to your “step out to find out” nudge. It matters! “For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” - Ephesians 2:10
Intentionally Own It! What personalized growth does this message encourage me to pursue, and why does it matter? When will I take action, and what value will it add to my life and the lives of others when I do?
Side Note: A year into starting my business, I found Laurie Stewart and shared how her reply (from many years back) has “lived” in my vision journal and inspired me to keep going and never stop dreaming. Here’s the clip!
