A Prayer for Courage When You Fear the Outcome - Your Daily Prayer - November 7

A Prayer for Courage When You Fear the Outcome
By Tammy Darling

Bible Reading
“The LORD himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.” Deuteronomy 31:8, NIV

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I’m an introvert by design and not one to get out of my box without a nudge from the Lord. For me, courage is needed for most social interactions, as well as for the “bigger” things in life that require an ounce or ten of it.

Years ago, I felt a nudge from the Lord to befriend a family in our church, and I’ll be honest, my first thought was “high maintenance.” They were a younger family than my own… with multiple children who weren’t well-trained in manners or behavior. It was out of sheer obedience to the Lord that I invited them all to our home for pizza. And I’m glad I did, for it was the start of a beautiful friendship.

Two couples with nine children between us. In time, I chuckled to myself, realizing that we were all high maintenance! Through the years, we grew ever closer, telling one another things that we’ve never shared with anyone else. I thanked God repeatedly for His wisdom in bringing us together.

But then I noticed some little things about my friend that didn’t make sense. At the time, I wasn’t connecting the dots; in time, the picture became painfully clear. Little by little, my friend was pulling away from us all… including her own husband.

It felt like the proverbial “elephant in the room” that needed to be addressed. More than once, I approached my friend regarding the increasing distance between us. Each time she insisted nothing was wrong; she said she was just really tired from being so busy. I knew there was more to it, but for all our years of friendship, she just wouldn’t open up.

And then came the call from her husband: “My wife told me she’s leaving me.” Subsequent attempts to reach out to my friend fell on deaf ears. It quickly became evident that she was extremely angry and bitter…at everyone, including God.

My friend made it very clear that she wanted nothing to do with God, church, her husband, or my family. At another time in my life, I would have just tossed her aside and been done with the whole relationship. I would have bad-mouthed her as she did to and about me. But I didn’t. And I won’t. And even that requires courage.

Instead, I asked God to give me His heart for her. When the temptation comes to get angry and bitter, I bless her and speak life instead. I refuse to become offended.

It’s one thing to work through these things with God on your own, but when you sense Him wanting you to continue to reach out to a person that seems to hate you, now that takes a measure of courage. Courage is something I’ve never had a lot of, but I see now that the reason is not because of a lack of opportunities, but a lack of actually taking a courageous step forward. I can pray for courage all I want, but God isn’t just going to zap me with courage. What He will do is provide me with opportunities to become courageous; it’s up to me to take advantage of those opportunities.

As much as I didn’t want to face more backlash from my friend, I knew I couldn’t remain silent. Sometimes courage is doing what’s right when you know you’ll be treated wrongly for doing so.

Because my once “best” friend wouldn’t even speak to me face-to-face, I sent her a private message on Facebook. Days later, I received a nasty, spiteful response. What was so surprising was that though the response hurt, because it was clear that my friend was no longer my friend, I was shocked and pleasantly pleased to realize that the intentional nastiness didn’t bother me. I was at peace knowing I had done the Father’s will and that the results were up to Him. That’s courage in action.

Stepping out in faith takes our courage to a new level… even if things don’t turn out the way we hoped. When God presents us with opportunities to be courageous, we step out in faith—not with the assurance that all will go well. Because sometimes it won’t go well. And that’s okay. God’s already aware of when it won’t work out the way we thought it would. But courage doesn’t quit; it moves forward, step by faith-filled step.

Let’s Pray

Dearest Jesus,

Sometimes in this life, we need an extra measure of courage. Whether it’s saying hard things to someone or needing the courage to get on an airplane, we know You are with us. You go before us and will not leave us on our own.

May we be increasingly aware of the opportunities You provide for us to walk in faith and to trust You with the outcome. Being courageous demonstrates our commitment to obeying Your Word, and so with courage we will walk out what You place before us.

In Christ’s name we pray, Amen.

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Photo Credit: ©Getty Images/Kamonwan Wankaew

Tammy Darling is the author of 1,600 published articles and three books. She writes from her home in rural Pennsylvania.

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