The Courage to Rise ~

February holds a lot of emotion for me. My birthday falls this month, and it is also the month my dad passed away 15 years ago. Now, February holds another milestone, the arrival of my book into the world.
In January, Untucked: Reflections for the Soul’s Unfolding was published. But I felt the need to keep it close for a while. I listened to the pull to be present and to bond with the book before releasing it. I allowed myself to be still and let the words I had been so intimate with for so long speak back to me.
Now, I am letting her out into the world, which feels both vulnerable and liberating.
Untucked is entering the world quietly. That is how she is meant to be received, and it takes courage not to rush but simply to be.
Joshua 1:9 ~ A Hidden Gem
While listening to a podcast this week, I was reminded of Joshua 1:9
“Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.”
I knew immediately I wanted to write a reflection around this verse, and when I opened my Bible to study it further, I noticed I had already highlighted those words years ago.
Why was I not surprised?
These small nudges have been everywhere this month. I think they are always there, but we miss them when we aren’t still enough to notice. Because January became a deeper practice of stillness for me, I became more aware.
What I experienced that morning is something woven throughout my life and my writing: a remembering of what I already knew.
A decade ago, an earlier version of me needed those exact words. I marked them because they mattered. Because courage was required then, too. And now, here I am, not circling back out of fear, but arriving with courage.
Joshua 1:9 didn’t change.
I did.
Back then, the verse may have been about survival courage; getting through, staying steady, enduring.
Now, it reads as arrival courage; the bravery to stand where I am without armor, without apology, and without rushing ahead.
There was something deeply reassuring about that highlighted verse waiting for me. Almost like a whisper, you’re not off course. You’ve been walking this way all along.
As I read from the beginning of the chapter, I felt a deeper meaning of the words. Joshua is spoken to at the edge of crossing into something unknown yet promised. That feels very real for where I am right now, and for where I have found myself many times in recent years: standing on the edge of not knowing and knowing at the same time.
The difference now is I am no longer being asked to endure or to conquer. I am being asked to have the courage to trust.
The words were already there.
I just had to grow into them.
Today, I sit with and honor the version of myself who underlined those words all those years ago, and I give her permission to rest. She has done her part.
I didn’t just highlight those words; they were planted in me. And now, I am standing in the season where they are fully lived.
Today, Untucked enters the world rooted in stillness, courage, and belonging. And I am grateful.
Prompt:
Where in your life are you being asked to trust rather than endure?

---