how the broken can brave the world

Have you been following Brittany's story?

Did you see Kara's dear heart letter?

What about bucket-list-baby-Shane?

Me too.

And you know what?

It's really scary out there.

I wanted to hide under my covers.

I wanted to turn up Spotify really loud.

I wanted to cry for these women.

And last night reading Kara's letter to Brittany, I did.
Then today I reread Kara's letter and I listened to her talk about battling cancer.

Braving cancer.

Braving life.

Braving love and vulnerability.

She talked about cancer sitting in her breast and her overies and now her brain and I googled what it looks like to die of brain cancer.

I couldn't imagine what would make one woman want to swallow death. What kind of suffering is so bitter that one woman couldn't palate it?

Now I can't imagine how Kara will face it.

She is among the ranks of the brave.

The truth about the brave- about bravery?

Bravery at it's core is simply this;
worshiping what cannot be wrecked or ruined or taken.

We've been invited into worship.

We've been invited to walk away from the things that can't hold up.

When people's opinions press hard against us we self preach God's presence with us.

We aren't paralyzed by uncertainty because we know clearly how it all ends.

He doesn't save the brave from calamity but from the fear of destruction.

In the middle of hard circumstances we remember;

"Circumstances may be the hardest thing but they are not the most important thing."

The most important?

He loves the wobbly kneed kindly

He loves the baby-less woman wholly

He loves the timid heart thoughtfully

He loves the cancer consumed intimately 

He loves the abused tenderly 

He loves for his name sake. 

And when the bravery won't shows up whisper to your barely beating heart;

"For the LORD (self sufficient, self sustaining, self determining one) 
will not abandon you,(WHY?!)  
for his great name's sake,
 because it has pleased (delighted, made happy, increased the joy of) the LORD 
to make you a people for himself."
 1 Samuel 12:22