Parenting girls is NO JOKE. As a mom of two girls, I have struggled to find good, Biblical, non-cheesy resources to help them find their confidence in God. Lynn Cowell to the rescue! Her brand new book, Brave Beauty,

is the book we need. I’m so happy that Lynn is on the blog today, sharing a core message from her new book. She’s got a message for girls — but it’s also a great message for grown women … for anyone who battles fear.

Welcome, Lynn!

 My Own Fear Factor
By Lynn Cowell

Long past the point when most kids move on, I was still afraid of the dark. Would someone come up the stairs and into my bedroom as I tried to sleep? Since I couldn’t see, I didn’t know.

Though I was in junior high, the bright hall light continued to stay on all night, peering down the stairs, keeping guard over me.

Did you too have a fear that wanted to linger longer?

Many of us have roots of fear that settled into our hearts when we were young … and some of them just didn’t grow away.

My husband and I both come from the same small town, surrounded by corn fields. When he and I got married, we made our decision to honeymoon within driving distance simply out of fear. There was so much to be scared of far from home: the fear of driving through a big city, renting a car or navigating places we had never been. These fears, planted in our young hearts, had begun to grow.

Yet fear is not what I wanted. My desire to push past fear to experience all that God had for me began to grow. Yet digging out of my doubt would not be easy.

Of all my fears, the most powerful was my fear of people. My fear of not having their approval … and even more than that — of disappointing them. This fear of people held me back all too often from trying new things. What if I wasn’t great? What if other people counted on me and I let them down? What if they made fun of me for trying something new? That’s a lot of what if’s, isn’t it?

I needed help from adults, wiser than myself, to give me the push to move forward. Adults who knew the truth – what God’s word said about me – gave me the tools to push fear out so the fearless me could grow. I began to give more time and attention to faith instead of fear, and I found myself becoming brave.

That was one reason I wanted to write my new book, Brave Beauty: Finding the Fearless You

. It’s a guide for young girls right at this pivotal age — between 8 – 12 — when they move from being a child toward becoming an adult, because I think that this “tween-ager” stage can be the prime time when fear sets in.

Just as I needed someone as a young adult, to show me the tools to find my fearless self, so does that young girl in your life. And you don’t have to be fearless yourself first! You can become brave together!

Becoming brave is a bit like working out (which I do not really enjoy, by the way!). I work out because I want to be the most rockin’ grandma if my kids have kids one day … the one who takes her little people bike riding, hiking and rides the roller coaster with them. Who knows? Maybe I’ll even skydive again if one of them wants!

The reality is, if I don’t work out now and don’t do what I don’t like to do, that “dream” is never going to happen. I have to do the hard stuff now if I want that to be my reality later. I have to work to become the woman I want to be.

I found the same to be true in my spiritual life. If I want to be a woman who is brave enough to talk to the cashier about Jesus, try a new volunteer role at church or create videos to teach women God’s word, I have to work out my spiritual muscles and do what I don’t want to do…the very thing I am afraid of. I have to pour God’s word into my heart to empower me to be brave and then I have to simply take that first step.

Start smiling and talking to the cashier instead of being on my phone … which I still do at times.

Say “yes” to helping new people in my community make our church their home.

Write teachings, get on a plane and sit in front of a camera, sharing with women how they can make their move to find unshakeable confidence despite our fears and failures (all the while shaking).

Being brave isn’t a feeling; it is an action we can take, even while we are quivering!

This is what I want my kids to see … their mom going for it, even knowing that she is scared out of her pants!

So, while I wrote Brave Beauty

for young girls, I also wrote it for us. Those of us who are still scared, little girls, wanting to be brave and find our fearless self. As we use this book, this companion guide to learning to become courageous, confident and fearless, may we soak in His truth to us and find our fearless selves as well.

Today, Lynn is giving away a free download — the “I Am Brave Printable” — as a daily reminder for girls of all ages to be brave. Click here to receive the free download!

Brave Beauty

 helps tween girls to:

• Gain confidence by accepting her unique qualities and understand how they can work for her, not against her.
• Discover who God says she is, in His eyes, and how He can help her.
• Discuss the tough stuff she’s going through as she changes physically, emotionally, relationally and spiritually.
• Learn how God’s words can help her become brave and beautiful.

Order before August 31^st and receive these confidence-building resources:

Click here to access all the downloads mentioned above (and to submit the form to receive those downloads).

Lynn Cowell is a Proverbs 31 speaker and the author of several books, written for young girls, teen girls and women of all ages. Her newest book Brave Beauty: Finding the Fearless You

is written for girls ages 8 -12. Make Your Move: Finding Unshakeable Confidence Despite Your Fears and Failures, a Bible study for women, releases this fall. Lynn calls home North Carolina, where she and her husband, Greg and the occasional backyard deer are adjusting to life as empty nesters.

© 2017 by Lynn Cowell. All rights reserved.

 

 

 

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