Fear.

It’s been a present companion throughout various times in my life. Not constant but present. It isn’t that I welcomed fear, it just arrived at times, rushing fiercely in and over any reason.

My children are grown and married, I am now a Mimi who is involved, enjoying, and engaged with grandchildren. They are the reason I welcomed and embraced the opportunity to be on the launch team for “Brave Moms, Brave Kids” by Lee Nienhuis.

Lee is not an expert or done with raising her children. In fact, she is still in the throes of parenting and faces the same challenges as all of us. She is fully aware she is still at risk of her children falling apart. She understands apart from God, she is unqualified but has chosen to depend on Him and His Word for the daily guidance needed each day.

Her vulnerability and transparency in admitting her own weaknesses and dependency on God quickly drew me in to read her words. Each chapter brought the reminder that God has already given me all I need for life, godliness and parenting through His Word and promises:

“By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know him, the one who has called us to himself by means of his marvelous glory and excellence.” (2 Peter 1:3, NLT)

Sure we battle fear in raising our children but we can face fear head on because of His strength at work in us. We entrust our children and grandchildren to the One, the only One, who can keep them:

“Entrusting means giving over the responsibility, putting something into another’s care or protection. This is what my heart longs for when it’s overwhelmed by my inability to keep my children safe, healthy, protected, obedient,and faithful. I desperately desire to assign the responsibility to someone who will not fail at the task.There is a deep yes in my spirit when I consider the invitation not to surrender my fight — but rather, entrust my children to someone who cares even more than I do.”
~Lee Nienhuis

This book is full of encouragement from Scripture and from other sources, as Lee writes to infuse us with a strong dose of faith to grow us to be brave. For our children, and grandchildren to be brave, we as moms need to tend to our souls and be brave. We need to overcome fear by believing God.

“We are often hindered from giving up our treasures to the Lord out of fear for their safety; this is especially true when those treasures are loved relatives and friends. But we need have no such fears. Our Lord came not to destroy but to save. Everything is safe which we commit to Him, and nothing is really safe which is not so committed.” (A.W.Tozer)
(as quoted on page 59)

May we trust God with our children and grandchildren. Let’s be women who are filled with courage as we pray and train our children more effectively to do so for themselves.

I cannot recommend this book highly enough. The book comes out February 1st and you can preorder now. You can also connect with Lee Nienhuis on her website, Facebook, or Twitter. I have included the links to make it easier for you and trust me, you will be glad you followed.

** I received an ARC as part of the launch team in exchange for my honest review. It was my joy to both read and review this book. This is a book I will keep and share in the days ahead.

Today I am joining …  #DreamTogether and  Inspire Me Monday and Booknificent Thursday .