Category Archives: Brave Girl Boots Updates

Now Available in eBook & Paperback

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Where can you purchase Brave Girl Boots: A 40-Day Journey to Brave ? 

Amazon, Barnes & Noble.com, Westbow Press, CBD, Kobo & Booktopia

 or request it from your local bookstore.

birthdays, anniversaries, babies, (1)

Brave Girl Boots: A Forty-Day Journey to Brave, you’ll discover that with God, you are capable of more than you ever thought possible. There isn’t a battle you are facing that cannot be conquered with the help of the Lord.

Regardless of wherever life has you at this very moment, God has a plan of bravery for you. During these forty days, women from all walks of life share their stories at Tami Walker’s table. They will share stories of enduring some of the hardest hits life has to offer; they may have stumbled but they didn’t succumb. Finding their strength in an extended hand of grace that whispers, “Come on, get up . . . you can do this!”

You are invited every morning to join them on this journey!

 

Now that’s a beauty!

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birthdays, anniversaries, babies, (1)Brave Girl Boots released early!  We found our little book on Amazon, Barnes & Noble and she is already getting into the hands of women. This has been an exciting twenty-four hours.  You will also be able to purchase BGB on Friday, July 24th at our next Common Ground event and on Sunday, July 26th at Connection Church.  Last but not least you will be able to purchase right here!

Please spread the word to your friends and let them know about this little devotional that we hope will encourage and challenge them.

Faithful God.

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IMG_8086You know what’s awesome?

Doing the final submission review of Brave Girl Boots and seeing how God has answered prayers for a few of these Brave Girls. What a difference a year makes. God is incredibly faithful.

My hope is that for every woman who reads Brave Girl Boots they will have a firmer grasp of the faithfulness of God.

He is for you. 

One Year. One Vision. One God. Let’s Go!

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Brave Girl,

When this popped up on my timehop this morning I couldn’t believe it. One year ago today we launched our BGB ONE YEARBrave Girl Boots Prayer Challenge. I remember hearing this statement, “If God seeds us with vision, we are able in Christ” after the thought came to me about the prayer challenge. It would be an understatement if I told you that I had no idea what was behind the yes to God.  No idea. Have we been able in Christ? Absolutely. 

So here we are. One year later. Two things have come out of the BGB Prayer Challenge that I’m incredibly humbled and honored to steward for the Lord. First is the BGB group on Facebook. What an oasis for the hurting. I can’t tell you how undone I get when I peek in and see over two hundred women in that room supporting each other, taking desperate needs to the Lord on behalf of one another. Not one time have I seen judgement. The women in that group are my heroes. Thank you! You’ve proven yourselves trustworthy at all hours of the day and night to meet every request with grace. The level we meet someone with grace shows the level we trust God to be God. If you haven’t joined that group yet, please do so now! You will find a safe space to ask for prayer and be transparent. Just to name a few things we have walked through together: disease, a mother dying, and mommies having a bad day…whatever your need is — it will be treated with respect and love.

The second thing is a 40 day published devotional based on this prayer challenge. I can’t believe what God had in mind when I thought I was saying yes to leading a prayer challenge. It makes me laugh when I think about it. God knows us. He knows sometimes vision needs to be time released. Ya’ll I had no idea where to begin with publishing a book. But each step of the way God provided. Financing – all provided. Knowledge – He brought people smarter than me along side me to point me in the right direction. “If God seeds us with vision, we are able in Christ” — I can honestly, wholeheartedly say, “Yes, and AMEN!”

I imagine women taking that devotional out each morning being encouraged by real women who walk out a real faith. Hand in hand with their God who makes them brave.  Ohhhh…I can’t wait!  We’re hoping for an April release, if not then my eyes are on Mother’s Day for the launch. We will surely keep you posted. I can’t wait to touch and smell that book. If you are a book-girl you get that statement. If you aren’t — move along. 🙂

What I’ve learned over this past year is this: each time we answer yes to God, He will faithfully respond. If you think it’s a Lucy holding the football for Charlie Brown thing with God…I respectfully say to you, “You are wrong.”

Charlie Brown and Violet pulls football away-2 panel aBrave Girl, it’s time to dust off that dream. You know the one. The one you placed safely on the shelf of your heart. You’ll never know if it’s from God if you don’t step up to kick that ball.

Bravery in Shattered Pieces

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One.

One call, one conversation, one email…all it takes is one.

One to take the air out of the room, punch us in the stomach, leaving us breathless and searching. Life altering news seems to come out of left field. We don’t expect it. We certainly don’t look for it, do we?

The glass shatters. Leaving our lives in pieces.

We can’t see anything but ONE BIG MESS.

How? Why? WHY? Our broken hearts and dreams demand answers.    Those questions often get unanswered.

The easiest thing to do is blame God,  take up our cause and become victims.    And we stay sitting in our mess as the months, years, tick by.   Sitting in our mess.

Brave Girl, there is another way.   

Psalm 34:18 comforts us with this truth:  The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.

Have you looked for God in your shattered pieces?   He is nearer than you think.    “If He is near, why didn’t he stop this from happening?”

The truth is found in  John 16:33… ” I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”

The promise of this world: Trouble.

The promise of our Lord:  Overcome.

There is another kind of shattering that comes to believers. Truth comes in and shatters our facade of sin. It’s a holy moment when we look at our sin for what it is; face to face with the truth of our estate.

And the shattering comes.   Usually when we least expect it.   Facade is shattered and we see clearly the heart wrenching betrayal lodged in our heart.   Self-worship.  “My, me, mine”  really boils it down doesn’t it?

Godly sorrow is good.   Contrary to what the world would tell us.    2 Corinthians 7:10  Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death.

Godly sorrow brings repentance.    A change of heart and mind.   Luke 3:8 encourages us to “Bear fruit in keeping with repentance.”     Repentance is not private.

The promise of this world: Death

The promise of our Lord:  Life

Brave Girl,  you are not alone in your mess.   And believe it or not, the truth is God wants to bring a message out of your mess.    Will you let Him take the broken things,  the hurts and disappointments to make something beautiful?

Only Jesus can turn our ashes to beauty.    He won’t throw that shattered life away,  but with care only a loving Father can give will He bind your wounds, brush the tears from your cheeks, and begin to build something so beautiful…it will grab the world’s attention and point people to Himself.

Will you be brave enough today to let Him?

Bravery in the Wait.

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 The Lord is my Portion

Tick, Tick, Tick….

When you are in the land of in-between, on the on-ramp for days, weeks even years…it’s easy to lose hope.

Bravery seems to be the first traveling companion to bail on us when we feel as if God has left our story unfinished. 

Boom.  Lie believed.  Lets look to scripture to remind ourselves of what God says about the story He is writing with your life. 

“Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.”  Hebrews 12:2  King James Version.

Other versions describe Jesus as the pioneer and perfecter of our faith (NIV);  the founder and perfecter of our faith (ESV).

Our Lord has the final say in our story.  Not the world, not man.  I often encourage people battling illness by sharing that God is above man’s opinion. He has the final say… in all things. 

How do we encourage ourselves when we feel utterly alone in the wait?   You know those times when you cry yourself to sleep? Or in the shower?  When we can’t help but kick your feet in the ground like a toddler because we aren’t getting our way, on our timetable?  

No?  Oh, maybe it’s just me.

But I don’t think so. I think many of us need a healthy dose of Jesus-brave to swoop in and still our anxious hearts and minds.  

During my long wait to be married and for the record it was 45 yrs LORD! I got some really, really good advice.  The Holy Spirit will do that, ya know.  He will direct us to truth when we ask for help. It’s not always what we want to hear, but it’s truth, it’s good and it’s just what we need. I was directed to Lamentations 3:24  “I say to myself, the LORD is my portion; therefore I will wait for Him.”   That became my mantra.   Whenever I felt sad, anxious, unsure that God hadn’t forgotten about me…I would say this verse out loud.   And bravery would rise up in me to face another day.  For some of us, Brave Girls, we need to get through the next hour.  

What are you waiting on the Lord for?  Healing?  Salvation of a loved one?  A Spouse?  Direction for your next step?  

He is trustworthy.  It is worth putting all of your eggs in His basket.  Bet on Jesus.   

Make Him your portion today, Brave Girl.   

 

Bravery into the Unknown.

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Brave Girl,

I stumbled upon this picture tonight. Taken September 2005 on my last day at The Auto Club Group. I worked there since I was a “kid”…just shy of 18 years.

That was nine years ago.

If someone would have told me after I started following Jesus just five years earlier, I would be leaving my career to go into full-time ministry…I would have laughed. Loudly. Yes, I would have laughed very loudly.

God’s ways are not our ways, right? I mean we read that in Isaiah 55:8 “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,” declares the LORD.

Like, He wasn’t kidding?! Isn’t that scripture for other people?

I mean I didn’t actually think He meant it, right? Sound familiar, Brave Girl?

In this picture I see an unsure woman who is leaving everything she has known: her comfortable job, the security of being known in a field she specialized in, and great friends. All cozy, all comfortable. All Tami’s plan.

Enter God’s plan. Gazing at that picture, I remember feeling so unsure of the foreign territory God was asking me to travel on for the next leg of my journey towards Heaven. As unsure of the new soil I was asked to tread, I was completely sure of my God.

Brave Girl, is God asking you to step out on unknown roads with Him? Unsure of where they may lead?

Be encouraged. God’s plan is better. 10000% better. S E R I O U S L Y.
When I think of what I would have missed out on had I been too afraid to answer the call to follow Him…my heart aches.

I have found healing on this unknown path. Deep life-changing healing. I have the absolute privilege to serve God through my wonderful Connection family. Not to mention the sweet joy I experience in leading CGgirls. God’s plan is better. (And did I mention my stinkin’ awesome husband? Yeah, that happened, too! )

You won’t regret saying “Yes” to God, Brave Girl. Wherever that leads you.

Cage Match: Faith vs Fear

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It’s on Brave Girl!  

It's on Brave Girl!

Whether you realize it or not,  you are in a battle today.    Faith vs. Fear.

Faith will guide you to unknown trails,  sometimes asking you to be the trailblazer for others coming behind you.   Faith asks us to be brave.  That can be unsettling.

But Faith will always walk you towards Life.

Fear will sell you that comfort, playing it safe,  is your friend.   Fear is a liar.   

Fear keeps relationships broken.

Fear extinguishes the flame of dreams.

Fear keeps pride at a premium leaving no room for transparency and authenticity.

Fear keeps you scared but we call it comfortable.  I call fear a thief.

Jesus never called us to be comfortable.   Not one time.

What He said was this,  “Follow Me”  to real living.  Life more abundant.

“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.”  John 10:10

FAITH will always walk you toward LIFE.

HAPPY

God Space.

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Brave Girl,

As we move forward  from being ankle-deep into knee-deep book writing water I want to challenge your thinking.  Challenge you on the way you live and love.

Our ears are filled with “find balance”  “are you setting margins in your life?”  and my current favorite “less hustle more love.”   Which are all true and equally all hard to do as women.

My challenge today isn’t about changing how you fill your days.

It’s a question that we can ponder and answer honestly or we can hurriedly brush past with an answer  “of course”…

“Do you have God Space in your goals, dreams and the way you live and love? ” 

This is a lesson I keep learning.    You’d think as much as I’ve seen God work through my personal life, CGgirls and my tribe, this should be second nature to me.

When I felt God nudging us to expand the platform of  Brave Girl Boots to include a published devotional, I immediately went into strategic leader mode.

If you are wired for leadership you get that.  You can’t help yourself.

A vision for a published book + no provision =   Time to Plan.

Nothin’ wrong with planning,  nothin’ wrong with putting some action to your faith, no ma’am …that’s all good. 

Except I initially didn’t leave God Space in my plan.    We came up with the idea to sell shirts and set an obtainable goal.

(Ding! Ding! Ding!  First clue you aren’t leaving God Space in your plan is if you know how to pull it off without Him).

We needed the revenue of selling 200 BGB shirts but I knew we could sell 50 (mom, aunts, friends, Pastor’s wife…)  — I know LAME!  Totally lame!   What kinda visionary am I?

As I started to move forward confidently with our goal of 50, I felt that familiar nudge.   You know the one.  Yep.

Conversation flowed like this, “Have you left room for me to work?”  BOOM!   “No, God I haven’t. ”   whispers the woman who absolutely knows better.

Seriously, Brave Girl,  sometimes I am pathetic.  

We moved forward with the goal of 200 shirts.   The fundraising campaign was wildly successful.

We ended up $200 short in our funding;  however on the day we called to seal the deal with the publisher a sale was running.   Wait for it…$200 off !  Paid in full!

I laugh at this now, because really I could cry if I let myself.

Had we not trusted God by making God Space for him in our plan, we would have missed out on this provisional blessing,

not to mention spinning our wheels to raise more funds.   We would have settled for a quarter of what God could do.

I’m tired of settling for what I can do.  What about you?

God Space.  

Are you leaving room for Him in your dreams, your plans, your family, your relationships?

Or do you have it all tucked in your grip.  Closed. Controlled.

Brave Girl, that ain’t no way to live.   What we’re left with is what we can make happen and guess what ?   We get short-changed, every time.

What has your heart’s attention today?   Is it a wayward loved one?  A dream that needs to be dusted off and followed?  The physical estate of someone you dearly love? Is it your marriage or lack of one?
What about that hard to love person He keeps bringing in your path to love well?

Today is a day of exchange.   The burden of self-sufficiency, worry, fearfulness for God Space.

God isn’t afraid to get His hands dirty in your mess.   He gets personal, His hands eagerly ready to transform us from mounds of nothing to what He desires for us.   Christ-likeness.

But now, O LORD, you are our Father; we are the clay, and you are our potter; we are all the work of your hand.  (ESV)  Isaiah 64:8