The Key to Building Courageous Leadership for Women
Have you ever been stopped in your tracks by fear?
Maybe you were SO EXCITED to do something until it was time to take action, and then the fear paralyzed you.
Or maybe you have an idea you’ve never executed because you’re afraid of what others will think or what will happen to you once you show up.
However, fear is presenting itself in your life right now… It’s a LIE.
The enemy LOVES to use fear in our lives because it STOPS us from taking action.
Fear keeps us small and limits the impact we can make on the world.
Kingdom-building work is often derailed by one thing––fear.
If you struggle with fear in your life, you can rest assured that God WANTS to raise you up!
He’s calling to you: “Rise up, daughter!” but the fear is keeping you weighed down. Until today.
It’s time to embrace God’s calling on your life and learn how to overcome fear once and for all. So let’s get into it!
Fear limits courageous leadership for women
“What if you just mind your own business and let the girls work it out on their own. Everything doesn’t have to be a movement.”
Those words, from another parent in my daughter’s class, stopped me in my tracks and washed me in a paralyzing fear.
The girls at school were having trouble with bullying and gossip, and I felt inspired to help them learn how powerful their words really are. I met up with some of the other moms to discuss the issue, and that’s when I felt called to suggest we hold an assembly or some kind of workshop to really dig into the power of how they chose to speak to and about one another.
I was lit up about the idea until one woman shut me down and sent me into a fear and shame spiral.
How many times have you been there?
Feeling called, inspired, or on fire for something… only to be met with resistance and intimidation that stops you in your tracks?
Now, I wouldn’t let a comment like that stop me. But before I had crossed over to life on the other side of people pleasing, I would obsess over the judgment and let one rude mom keep me from taking action I knew I should take.
This is exactly how fear limits courageous leadership.
We get inspired, we decide to take bold action… and then fear creeps in and tells us all the reasons we shouldn’t do what we’re about to do.
It can end there. But that’s not the life God has called you to live!
He has called you to be strong and courageous, not to be afraid because the Lord goes with you each day. He will never forsake you, so you don’t have to be afraid.
How to identify fear
Many of us don’t even know when fear is at work.
A lot of times, fear shows up in the form of excuses, but we don’t call it what it is.
The first key in overcoming fear is being able to identify it as fear.
My friend and serial entrepreneur, Thea Wood, shares some of the key signs fear is at work:
- Your physical body is out of whack. If you’re not caring for your body on a holistic level, you’re not even aware of the fear that shows up in your gut, your throat, and throughout your body.
- Making excuses that hold you back from taking action.
- Feeling stagnant or stuck.
- Feeling resistance to an idea and immediately thinking it’s God telling you not to do something.
When you identify fear and name it for what it is, supernatural healing can take place.
Most people won’t jump into the ABUNDANCE God has called them to because FEAR holds them back from leaving the edge of the cliff.
But life truly starts on the other side of fear. It’s where the greatest adventures, connections, and successes are.
When you’ve been through some stuff (like my terminal cancer diagnosis at 26), you start learning to appreciate the freedom of not giving into fear a bit more.
Seeing and naming fear gives you the opportunity to call on God to help you overcome it.
And there’s one really powerful tool you can use to help you stand up and ask God for his help.
Courageous leadership for women starts with your identity in Christ
If you want to be able to stare fear down and claim that it has no hold on you, it all comes down to who you are in Christ.
I encourage you to think about WHO God is calling you to be and WHO He has told you you are.
Write down 3-5 words or phrases that define your identity in Him.
Things like:
- World changer
- Waymaker
- Righteous
- Loved
- Transformed
- Chosen
- Child of God
- Filled with the Holy Spirit
- Never Alone
- Redeemed
Get crystal clear on WHO God made you to be, and whenever you feel fear creeping in, SPEAK your identity out loud.
Yes, the outside noise will always be there. But your identity can be LOUDER than the negativity and doubt.
Use your identity as a weapon against fear. Tell fear to GO in the name of the Lord. It can truly dissolve in a MOMENT when you ask God to fight the battle for you.
Your voice matters. What you have to say is important.
No matter how fear has impacted you before, NOW is the time to stand confidently in who you are and proclaim that fear will NOT hold you back.
If you’d like specific prayers to support you in your journey to overcome fear and stand strong in your identity in Christ, we created a guide to help you!
➡️➡️➡️Click here to download a FREE prayer guide intentionally curated for you.
