Courage. Encourage.

It takes courage to encourage.
Think about it, I bet theres a time when you didn't speak up to encourage someone. To have spoken up then may have had repercussions in your own life, or maybe you were just a little scared to speak up.

For far too long I've believed the lie that I have nothing to say, or if I did no one would hear, or care.
So when I've had friends in need of encouragement I haven't always spoken up. As I've gotten older I've gotten bolder, but there has still been this great fear that has torn at who I am.

I believe that we are made with and for a purpose. But how do we find that purpose? I think often it is closely tied with our desires, those desires deep deep down that we often hide from the world, even sometimes from the people we love.
These desires, or passions, to me they feel like a they are a part of my genetic makeup. When we deny them, it tears at our soul. And so it should, to deny who we are can not be healthy, for us or those around us. Still we do it and I just don't know why - Fear? really what is there to fear?

I think it was in high school when I first started to feel the desire to lead and encourage. To step up if no-one else would and lead the team to victory. Speak to women and build their confidence [even when I felt I had none...]. Actually, it may have been earlier - how else do I explain the chronically shy girl who nominated herself for sports captain? Whenever it was, sometime as an early teen, part of me wanted to speak up and be heard.
But I let fear get in my way.  For those who don't know, I naturally have a very soft voice, it takes a conscious effort to speak up and project my voice. All through school whenever needed to address the class I'd stand up front and maybe be heard by the front row. Its getting better, as I said earlier, as I get older I'm getting bolder.
When I'd hear the call for a leader, somewhere in my mind I would think "I can do that" and instead of listening to that I listened to the louder lie that 'no-one would hear you', that 'you aren't strong enough'.
I regret that.
I regret not taking those chances, imagine what confidence I could have now if only I'd taken the chance then.  But  I froze.

As an adult there are still [many] times when I freeze. All courage leaves me. S many times I have seen someone, and had that niggling feeling that I should do something, say something. Instead of acting, I froze. I don't know what I should have done at those times, what would have come of them.

My point, I do have one, is that it takes Courage. It takes courage to Encourage. To encourage others, to encourage yourself.
 Its been said that we are all our own biggest critic. If that is true then can we not also be our own biggest encouragement??
It takes a little confidence, a little faith, a little courage to believe in YOU. To believe you are right. To believe YOU CAN. To believe you have the strength.
This is why I am here, writing to you. Because I can no longer stand idly by and watch. No longer can I ignore the cry of my soul that screams "I have something to offer!!!"
Slowly but surely I am learning that I am strong. I am capable. I have a voice. Praise God that in this day it doesn't matter that I have one of the softest voices in the world. Right here is a platform perfectly suited to my circumstances! I still feel scared of putting my words out there. But I have started to find my courage, my strength.

I want you to see your confidence shine as you fill your potential. Because the truth is:
 You are capable. You are worthy. You are beautiful. You will succeed. You have a voice.
Search yourself, find your courage, you have a dream a desire and you are valued enough to see it come to pass.

• A pinch of confidence
• A pinch of faith
• A hope and a prayer

If I mix these together I find the courage, in the place I once could never have believed I'd find it. In me.