Stories from 100 Days to Brave

Each of us shows our brave differently, as our previous nine guests have told us. To tie a bow on this series, we decided to take a look at a different kind of bravery: choosing to let God redeem the pain of your past so He can transform it into a springboard for helping others. Mental health therapist Tawni Jacobson shares how she overcome an adolescence filled with physical and mental health challenges, from Tourette’s syndrome to battling with medication side effects to struggling with her weight. But the most biggest boulder Tawni moved from of her path was learning to let go of bitterness toward others who didn’t know how to care for her as she needed. As Tawni reminds us, you don’t have to totally rewrite your story—God can help you learn to look at it through a new lens to find a healing perspective. And one day, you can hand that lens over to someone else.

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Take your brave further—get the 100 Days to Brave Guided Journal!

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Share your own brave story! #100daystobrave #storiesfrom100daystobrave

Sometimes being brave isn’t making a huge life change, or doing something wild and drastic. Sometimes being brave is hunkering down right where you are, in a certain place or phase, waiting it out, and making the most out of a situation you wouldn’t have picked for yourself. Soon-to-be law student Laura Theobald learned to give herself grace in the waiting. After losing her job and searching for next steps, navigating the uncertainty of unemployment, job applications, and interviews, Laura became determined to maximize the opportunity of a retail job she wouldn’t have chosen if her circumstances were a little different. Through that experience, she learned God had placed her there so that she could become the person she was designed to be, and she was able to chase after her dream of law school with renewed gusto. By mourning what she thought her life held, then looking at the opportunities that were in front of her and working to make her dreams happen, Laura was capital-B Brave in every sense of the word.

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Take your brave further—get the 100 Days to Brave Guided Journal!

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Share your own brave story! #100daystobrave #storiesfrom100daystobrave

It takes a whole lot of courage to leave the comfortable and the familiar behind, even if you know it’s in the pursuit of something greater. Nichole Dumas is joining the 100 Days to Brave Podcasts to share her wildly brave decision to leave behind the predictable, familiar world of teaching to step into full time ministry when God whispered, “Don’t get too comfortable.” Nichole is a children’s pastor and is part of a Greek life ministry on a college campus, and Jesus opened her eyes to realize that she needed to spend time with Him if she wanted to be used by Him. By brushing fear aside to pursue the hearts of those who don’t yet know God, Nichole chose a path for herself that filled her in ways she never thought possible.

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Take your brave further—get the 100 Days to Brave Guided Journal!

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Share your own brave story! #100daystobrave #storiesfrom100daystobrave

Being brave means finding the boldness within yourself to stare fear in the face—and walk past it. After college Diana Corzine found herself stuck in a job, knowing that she wasn’t passionate about what she was doing but being unsure of which direction to take. After deciding to hike the Appalachian Trail without much prior hiking experience, Diana shares how she prepared herself mentally, emotionally, and physically to tackle this demanding experience, and why her fear of regret was bigger than her fear of the trail.

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Take your brave further—get the 100 Days to Brave Guided Journal!

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Share your own brave story! #100daystobrave #storiesfrom100daystobrave

You know what takes more brave than we realize? Keeping our hearts open, especially when they’ve been scarred in the past. Amber Fuentes struggled with feeling like God wasn’t taking care of her. After dealing with an abusive situation early in life, Amber wrestled with fear and doubt around her worthiness in relationships. After working hard in therapy, Amber realized she was on the brink of missing out on the great love of her life. Pushing fear aside to pursue what she truly wanted—a loving partner to walk alongside—Amber stepped out in bravery, only to find her person and, after some struggles along the way, also discovered the woman God created her to be.

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Take your brave further—get the 100 Days to Brave Guided Journal!

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Share your own brave story! #100daystobrave #storiesfrom100daystobrave

There are times when “brave” is spelled with three small letters: Y-E-S. Saying yes to opportunities, yes to change, and yes to chasing your purpose can be one of the bravest things you’ll ever do. And here’s the kicker: in your brave life, you have to keep saying yes over and over and over again to experience what God has for you. Elisa Johnson made the brave choice to pack up her entire life and to move to Germany, where she knew approximately no one, so that she could serve Him. And by releasing control to God and sharing Him with teens at her newfound home at Black Forest Academy, Elisa is hoping to impact her students and leave a lasting legacy of bravery.

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Take your brave further—get the 100 Days to Brave Guided Journal!

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Share your own brave story! #100daystobrave #storiesfrom100daystobrave

Sometimes brave is as simple—and as hard—as deciding to get up and be present in your own life, no matter what it looks like. Today Leigh Ann Whitehead shares her story, one she thought was wrapped with a bow, but God had other plans. After getting married at thirty, Leigh Ann has battled infertility for years. She and her husband Dan were blessed with two children, but after a while, Leigh Ann discovered her second child, her precious son Will, has severe nonverbal autism. After struggling with anger and disappointment, Leigh Ann realized she had to ease her grip on the idea of family she’d had in her head, trust God to know what He was doing, and make the brave decision to show up for her family, just as it was. And when she did, Leigh Ann discovered peace, joy, and healing.

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Take your brave further—get the 100 Days to Brave Guided Journal!

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Share your own brave story! #100daystobrave #storiesfrom100daystobrave

We were not meant to have everything figured out, and there’s a special kind of freedom in that, right? Lucky for us, God has a plan mapped out for each one of us. Even if we’re scared of the unknown, all we have to do is say, “Show me where you want me, God,” and He’ll lead the way. On this episode of the 100 Days to Brave Podcast, Sierra Busking tells us how she took a major leap of faith to travel across the world with YWAM and share the love of Jesus. By giving God her yes, Sierra found the value of trusting Him to reveal His purposes for our lives.

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Take your brave further—get the 100 Days to Brave Guided Journal!

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Share your own brave story! #100daystobrave #storiesfrom100daystobrave

There’s no doubt about it: brave helps you get through the hard things. It helps you get through judgement, through uncertainty, through fear of the unknown. Speaker, writer, and coach Jenn Whitmer joins Stories from 100 Days to Brave to share the brave step she took to leave her teaching job—a job she loved and thought she would do forever—so she could pursue her true passion, despite the critics who told her she’d never succeed. One she stopped believing the lies that others spoke over her life, Jenn came to find that sometimes you have to jump in with both feet to discover that God will help you fly.

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Take your brave further—get the 100 Days to Brave Guided Journal!

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Share your own brave story! #100daystobrave #storiesfrom100daystobrave

Being brave isn’t alway flashy—in fact, sometimes the bravest thing you can do is just to put one foot in front of the other while everything else is falling down around you. We’re kicking off our brand-new podcast called Stories from 100 Days to Brave with Annie Thrasher—who, spoiler alert, happens to have known our very own Annie F. Downs since middle school! Annie T. gets real about her path of single motherhood, lined with hardships, discouragement, and crushing guilt. But when life didn’t go according to the plan Annie had for herself, she decided to choose to walk toward courage and joy, even when she didn’t want to—and God showed her strength she never knew she had. And even when it was just a crawl, Annie’s decision to be brave led her to a more fulfilling life than she could’ve imagined.

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Take your brave further—get the 100 Days to Brave Guided Journal!

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Share your own brave story! #100daystobrave #storiesfrom100daystobrave