S.O.F.T. and Strong: Midlife Women On A Mission

Episode 53: Brave Enough To Refuse To Stay Small (even beyond 50)

January 23, 2022 Bernice McDonald Season 1 Episode 43
S.O.F.T. and Strong: Midlife Women On A Mission
Episode 53: Brave Enough To Refuse To Stay Small (even beyond 50)
Show Notes Transcript

 Her name was "Much Afraid".  Scared of what was ahead.

Scared of not being loved by the people close to her.

Scared to step out on her own.

She didn't want love that hurt in any way. She didn't want Sorrow. She didn't want Suffering.

All she wanted was that good life. To reach the top of the mountain, the "High Places".

To be free. To find that sweet life lived with joy and peace, filled with good things.

In this story, we meet a heroine who stepped out of her comfort zone and took a risk. A chance. She's fictional but she's a mighty symbol of each of our hearts.

What will happen when I get old? Who will I be? How can I find the wings to fly me to my elderly years...with confidence. Without letting fear stop me.

Talking about all of this in this episode. It's a beautiful illustration of the human spirit and how we can walk this road from Not Enough to Brave Enough.

From Not Enough to... listen and find out what her name became when she had overcome the sorrow, the suffering and the fear of moving forward.

Read the book: "Hind's Feet on High Places" by Hannah Hurnard. (Amazon.ca)  (Amazon.com)

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S.O.F.T. & Strong: Brave Enough For Love
Episode 53: Brave Enough To Refuse To Stay Small

(00:01):

This is the podcast that walks you down the path from not enough to brave enough for love for life, for making a difference in this world. However, that looks for you. This is where the Secret Inner Hero Society is alive and well. And you are going to be inspired by the stories of women who are doing it - Being Brave Enough to love again, to live this life with courage. I'm Bernice McDonald, and I am excited to have you here. So get on in here and let's do this.

(00:44):

She was just this little type of mousey person. You wouldn't hardly notice if you passed her on the street. Much Afraid was her name. Half crippled by a club foot, she wanted so much to rid herself of bowing to the Fearing Family in the small village of 'Much Trembling' where she lived. She was a pleaser just so they would leave her alone!

(01:14):

The only light for her in her life was her friend, The Good Shepherd, who promised her, if she was willing, that he would take her higher - above fear - to a place of transformation. Of beauty. Of courage. She wanted that so much. Isn't that really what we all want to live life from a place of joy and peace instead of anxiety and fear? I know that's me. I'm sure that must be you too, because people desire that so much. Well in the story, Much Afraid finds the courage, one stumbling step at a time, to meet The Good Shepherd one early morning and begin her assent to the High Places.

(02:05):

But there are two conditions. One, she must allow the tiny thorn of love to be planted in her heart and it hurts. And two, she must accept the help of two companions. Their names? Sorrow and Suffering. She didn't want any of that. She didn't want love that hurt in any way. She didn't want Sorrow. She didn't want Suffering. All she wanted was that good life. To reach the top of the mountain, the High Places, to be free. To find that sweet life lived with joy and peace and full of good things.

(02:55):

But Much Afraid was wise. She trusted the way. The Good Shepherd pointed it out to her, showed her where the path had to go. And she knew that he knew her best. And loved her most... despite all the ways that she lived up to her name, Much Afraid. The journey began. Her hands reluctantly were often in the hands of her companions, Sorrow or Suffering step by step. She fearfully began to take the path up the mountain.

(03:44):

You know, when I think about it - how often I've had to put my own hands unwillingly into the hands of Sorrow and Suffering, resistant to seeing them in any way as helpers. Actually, blinded to that fact. Can you relate? Much Afraid pressed on.

(04:08):

The way seemed terribly hard. And in some places cruelly difficult and even impossible. She stopped and built altars as she was instructed. She felt shock when she was forced to take a heartbreaking detour down into the desert to experience more pain and sadness. She walked along the shores of Loneliness. She felt the agony of disappointment and frustration in the wilderness when the path, once again, seemed to veer away from the High Places. She walked miles across a sea wall through soothing woods and then, again, through deep dark valleys until, at last, the sun broke through. And she felt progress. Growth. She was at the foot of the mountain she desired to climb so much.

(05:17):

Yet she had a long ways to go and she knew it. She passed through the forests of danger and tribulation, endured a great storm and had to find shelter in a hut. And the mist, the endless mist, which held her down in the valley of loss. Yet it was there in the valley of loss where she first experienced peace. When she first felt herself surrender to what was. But next came the floods which carried her to a place when she was ready to give up. And she almost did.

(06:08):

But then, in her heart, she saw the little thorn of love was growing. Her eyes opened to what was real and truly important. She had reached the High Places. She was no longer Much Afraid. Her club feet had become like the feet of the mountain goat-like creature called a Hind, able to leap and bound up the rocky slope of a high mountain. Her new name - 'Grace and Glory',. Her companions, Sorrow and Suffering had also been transformed. They were now Joy and Peace.

(06:59):

I read this book in my twenties at a time when I was at a very low place. And it was amazing how it helped me. And it became one of the key things that helped me to understand the picture of life. That it's a journey. The book is called 'Hind's Feet on High Places', and it was written by Hannah Hurnard in 1955. We are all on a path, each of us, as I keep saying in this podcast, and this is what helps me to get a picture of my life, to get some, to make some sense out of what is happening here. And I'm finding this especially important as I'm entering the end of my path - a time when so many people tell us or so many people leave us the example that this is the time when our bodies break down, when we get sick, when we just coast to the end, and nobody knows for sure how they're gonna die. This is the time when we need to realize that we're approaching the High Places.

(08:14):

You are a heart. A beautiful heart on a path of growing character. Yes. Bombs go off all over the place. These boulders drop on you out of the blue, flattening you for a time. Other people throw rocks at you from their own paths. They become those fearing relatives that are trying to control your life and hold you back. If you let them.

(08:50):

But, this is a time of learning. This is a time when each of us can, can take our 'Much Afraid' persona and let it be transformed into that beautiful heart of Grace and Glory. I'm gonna tell you what Much Afraid learned from her walk with The Good Shepherd in the next podcast. Just remember until then that you have this beauty inside of you just like she does. You have a treasure box of jewels, of learning and greatness that have grown in you along the way, along your path. And I am so excited to share with you what those learnings, what we can take from this life and what we can be going forward from this point on, no matter how old we are. No matter what age or what stage we are on on this path. We can take, we can grow. We can go forward.

(10:03):

We're wrapping up Season One of S.O.F.T. and Strong. Season two is just around the corner. And, in Season two, this is what we're going to be discovering. We're going to talk about the journey. We're gonna talk about the jewels in you, the purpose that you have ahead of you.

(10:27):

Who are you? Who do you want to be in this life beyond 50? Did you know that the most Epic Mission ever in this life is to face fear? Your Fearing relatives in that little village where you maybe, where your heart is maybe living, where you are experiencing the 'Trembling' of going forward. Did you know that your most Epic Mission is to face that fear, shrink it down and to let the seed of love grow in your heart, to be bigger than fear, to be larger than fear, to give you the courage to go forward and do what you're meant to do?

(11:16):

In Season two that's what we're talking about. What are you meant to do in this life and how are you going to be the person that you need to be to make that happen? And how are you going to take the steps to make that happen? That's all in Season two. I'm so excited about it, and I hope you will subscribe to the podcast. Give me a brief review so that we keep this podcast alive. And at the top of the minds of the women who need to be encouraged, who need to know that they're not alone on this journey, by the way, if you like these kinds of stories, 'Hind's Feet On High Places', I encourage you to go and download the book and give it a read. It's a beautiful story. It's on Amazon. I'll put the link in the Show Notes. Okay. I am so looking forward to talking to you in the next Podcast. Thanks so much for joining me.

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Bernice McDonald is a Mindset Coach who  inspires women beyond 50 seeing their dreams disappearing off into the distance as they age. She gives them new eyes and a new fire inside as they step into their purpose, find the courage to make bold decisions and grow to fully love this next phase.