Connie Jakab

Today, I need to tell you something that happened during my turmoil of struggling to trust.   I’ll never forget it.

In one of the waves of despair that crashed over me, I was sitting at the computer feeling pretty low.   At one random moment, an email came in that said this in the subject line;

Connie, do you have the courage?

Seriously, my name was right there at the beginning of the sentence!  Now before we get all mystical let me clarify; the email was from Can-fit-pro, who I studied personal training with.  They had programmed the emails to go out with the recipients first name.  HOWEVER, the timing couldn’t have been more perfect.    All I could do was stare at this sentence, reading it over and over.

Connie, do you have the courage?

“Nooo-o-o-o”, I said in between tears.  Yet the more I studied the subject line, the more strongly I heard God’s voice saying; “Get up.  Wipe your tears, dust yourself off, and face it.  Face fear right in the nose and don’t let up”.  And then I felt God Himself tell me;

Connie, YOU HAVE the courage….

What is it with us that we need God to bang us over the head with some sign to convince us to move forward??  Ok, maybe not you, but I find myself in this situation all the time.   But what if no email with a subject line like that would have come?  What would I have done?  Would I have chosen to face fear and possible failure in the face head-on?

Anytime we step out to do something you can guarantee there’s going to be all sorts of obstacles to hurdle.  Some, you’ll see coming.  Some will catch you completely off guard and some may even be extremely hard to face.   Some may even come from people and relationships you value the most.

When you step out, hard decisions, unwavering commitment (when calling it quits sounds good), and courage in the face of giants becomes your mandate.  Blood, sweat and tears and then MORE blood, sweat and tears is what it may take to see it through.

No one said it would be easy.  Not everyone will be there cheering for you.   And just so you know, when you’ve just made it through a rough “go” of drawbacks and barriers, there’s no “chariots of fire” music playing in the background.   That would be great though, wouldn’t it?  I would feel like such a hero!  Instead, I feel drained and need a good week of sleep!

Courage.  Its not for extraordinary people – it’s for ordinary, everyday people who are willing to take hold of it.  It’s for those who are tired of status quo.  It’s for those who are wanting to do what they’ve always dreamed of doing.    And it’s for those who took the leap and are now looking back saying “What have I done??”, when they realize there’s no getting out of it.

Courage is what separates the ones who make the difference from the ones who wish they could.

So, I’m asking you:

DO YOU HAVE THE COURAGE?

And God Himself is telling you as well:   Yes, you HAVE the courage.