I told you: Be brave and strong! Do not be intimidated and do not lose heart! For the Lord your God is with you wherever you go." Joshua 1, 9

I'm brave? And strong? I can accept that God is with me everywhere I go. But to be able to call myself brave and strong?

Someone told me a while ago that I was brave. It's not a word I've ever used to describe myself. But I've been thinking about it since she said it.

She said it in a setting of conversation and prayer. I had shared something with her. Something I hadn't put into words before. It cost me to do it. And it was hard to process what I told her. But it felt good to be prayed for in it. It usually does. And it was after the prayer that she said she thought I was brave.

I had to taste that word. Brave.

I've never been particularly brave. Not physically, anyway. I was never the one who jumped high up from the quay into the icy waters of the fjord where I grew up. I have older siblings who were tougher there.

I've never been big on tree climbing or speed and excitement. Never had a desire for either bungee jumping or parachuting. I was always terrified when someone told me ghost stories. And I was really afraid of the dark as a child. I eventually grew out of the latter, but it was pretty bad for many years. I've actually been afraid of a lot of things. So I haven't used the word brave to describe myself, no.

But is this really what it means to be brave? When God tells us to be brave and strong, is this what He means? Isn't it more about trusting in His strength when we ourselves are weak? To not run away from what is difficult, but to put our lives and everything we carry in His hands? Isn't it daring to act on the nudges He gives us - whether it's encouraging our neighbor or moving to a new place, because we know He puts it on our hearts? Or when we open up to someone and tell them what we're struggling with because we want to live in the light? Isn't that what it means to be brave?

If so, I am brave. If so, I would also call myself strong.

Sometimes with my heart in my throat. Sometimes with trembling legs and voice. The last thing I think about myself then is that I am brave. But I choose to do things because I believe in the One who puts it down in me. He who works on my heart so that I want things I don't really dare. But then I dare anyway. Because He makes me brave. Because He is with me everywhere I go.

- Ingfrid Mundal, Bodø 19/02-24

In that case, I am brave. Sometimes with my heart in my throat. Sometimes with trembling legs and voice.