Be Strong and Courageous - Do Not Be Afraid

In this episode, we learn Sher has been hiding under a blanket, Cydni's 16-year-old just got his driver's license, and somehow both of those things tie perfectly into this episode about courage. We're talking about why God literally commands us not to fear, what Daniel in the lion's den can teach us about daily habits, how a tornado saved Washington DC, and why living small is kind of an insult to the gospel. There's also a story about a Costco tire guy who will make you want to live bolder starting today. Courage isn't the absence of fear — it's the mastery of it. This week's episode is "Be Strong and Courageous, Do Not be Afraid" and we are so glad you are here!

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Show Notes

Drip-Drip Drop, Words and  Music by  Matt Hoiland
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Transcript

Episode 160 - Be Strong and Courageous - Do Not Be Afraid

[00:00:00] 

Cydni: You know what Sher? I think we should talk about privilege in a different way, in a more positive way. I think it'll help with our spiritual and divine identity. We should. We ought to. That was for your mother. We ought to have the courage and the confidence of the police chief's daughter when she gets pulled over. You know, she's gonna be like, do you know who my father is? Do you know who I am? And I was thinking, you know what? Let's do that. Let's do that. Does she have Privilege? Absolutely. She has privilege, but so do we, because we are God's. 

Sher: That's right, 

Cydni: so we can speed too. Don't use your blinker. Do a U-turn where it says not to do a U-turn. Speed. Go fast. 

Sher: I don't think that's how it works, but you go ahead and try it. Cydni 

Cydni: spiritually speed because you are God's child and you do have privileges. This is dedicated to my son who just turned 16. Don't do any of [00:01:00] those things. Oh my gosh. Don't speed.

Go the speed limit. Wear your seatbelt. Don't look at your phone. That's the end of my message. Welcome to the Cydni and Sher podcast.

Sher: In January, we talked about the Plan of Happiness. And the meeting where Heavenly Father explained agency and what our Savior would do for us, making it possible to repent and live again. And this brings us to our basic part of the gospel that we're going to talk about today. Cydni, the God who designed the Plan of Happiness is not overwhelmed by your life. Or my life or anybody else's. He is not overwhelmed by what is happening in this world. He created all of us. He created the earth, he created everything on it. He knows what's gonna happen, so he can definitely help each and every one of us because nothing, and I mean, nothing is too hard for the Lord.

knowing this. Having this [00:02:00] knowledge is something that we can learn from and will help us to try to be a bit more courageous. God has it. It's all good. We can be brave and courageous. 

Cydni: You know what? If we actually believed that deep into our soul, this podcast could be over because that's what you need to know. But do you believe it? And do you believe it when you're in the dark and it doesn't feel like it's true? 

Sher: Yeah, that's where the struggle is right there. It's scary. I don't wanna be brave or courageous. I just wanna hide under a blanket. 

Cydni: I actually feel like you've said that a few times.

Sher: I have this last week in several texts. I'm hiding under a blanket right now. 

Cydni: Don't be afraid. It's a commandment. That's what I like about going into this episode and everything you're saying is that we're here to illustrate that. You should not be fearful. You should be believing because it's a commandment and you will suffer in hell if you don't listen.

Sher: Oh my goodness. That just really escalated quickly. Cydni what in the world? 

Cydni: I always think of The [00:03:00] 10, what is, no, not the 10 What is it? 

Sher: The three blind mice? 

Cydni: No, close . The talents the guy who buried his talent. I've always had such a place in my heart for him 'cause he did it out fear and I relate to that. But he does get cast out. So if you are struggling with fear and doubt. You better? Not anymore. That's our message. you have to stop 

Sher: now. I'm double scared. 

Cydni: That's the irony. 

Sher: Now I'm afraid that, I'm afraid.

Cydni: Yeah, that's the point. The point is to be afraid of your fear. That's a little twist. You were expecting a Sunday school lesson today. We know it. You were like, I'm gonna feel so good and I'm gonna feel courageous. Like Nephi. Oh no. You're gonna crawl in your bed and hide under your blankets, just like Sher

but in all very seriousness as we focus now we're going to talk about Joshua for a moment. And I love this scripture because it was very special to our family. I've shared this before, that when I was in the [00:04:00] hospital, the year before, we memorized this scripture as a family and it was a very strong prompting and I was led to the scripture to read it. And our whole family, my little boys, memorized the scripture. I would like to say that we've done this one year out of 16 with kids, but the year that I felt inspired and we actually stuck with it, really paid off. Maybe I should do it again. 

Sher: you are being consistent. Once every 16 years you, I'll 

Cydni: do it again. 

Sher: Right? You're right on track then. 

Cydni: Okay. I'm not gonna pick one about having courage. I'm gonna pick one about wealth that before you seek for riches, seek the kingdom of God. And then we'll be like, oh, we sought God and now we're so rich. Oh my gosh. Like that 

Sher: good idea. 

Cydni: We're hiding under our fur blankets now. But in Joshua one, nine, this was the scripture that we memorized as a family. Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid. Do not be discouraged for [00:05:00] the Lord. Your God will be with you wherever you go. And I had my sweet little 6-year-old who came to visit me in the hospital and can tell one day how sad I was and I was upset, and I just did not want my family to leave and just be there alone in a hospital bed again. And he recited this word for word to me by my hospital bed.

Sher: That is so precious. 

Cydni: Very precious. But when you learn more about Joshua, something that sticks out to me, I'm going to relate to him as much as I related to the man who buries his one talent. Because Joshua must have felt so much fear after Moses passed away. He has to take over and that's a pretty big job, pretty big shoes to fill, but based on how many times he is told. Commanded to not fear and reminded over and over that God is with him. He must have truly struggled with fear and doubt. 

Sher: That's a really good point. 

Cydni: But he continues and he does [00:06:00] trust and I think that is more common of a feeling to struggle with fear and doubt. And we see it. Over and over with some of our favorite stories from the scripture that people do struggle. They don't just have courage, and it's not just an ignorant situation that they're just like, I'm fearless. Nobody could touch me. I have a huge ego. What I have found is that the men and the women and the scriptures who demonstrate courage, what they have. Is courage, but it comes from wisdom. And if we remember, wisdom is a collection of our experiences and reflecting on those experiences and applying what we learn and the scripture stories that we have of Daniel and the Lion's Den of Moses, of Joshua. What we find in all of their stories is that they just did not have one moment of courage, but they had several little experiences, several little decisions that they made every single day that [00:07:00] led them to have the courage to handle these big moments that we talk about in Sunday school I keep thinking of Daniel. there's my favorite picture that exists currently it's a painting of Daniel in the Lion's den and Daniel is facing. Away from the lions.

The lions are at his back and he is calmly and confidently looking up out to the light with the hungry lions behind his back. I love this because I feel like this demonstrates turning to God. Away from fear in a most excellent way. when you read Daniel's story in Daniel six, there's so many things that point to why he was able to do this.

It's just not a decision he made in the moment, but it was the life that he lived It says in Daniel six that he had an excellent spirit was in him. The people, the king, they knew that God dwelled in him. And when the king talks to him, he says, more than once thy God, whom thou [00:08:00] serviced continually will save you.

What this demonstrates to me is that Daniel turned to God many times before he turned his back to the lions. It was daily decisions of small acts of courage and faith that led him to be able to be courageous in a very terrifying situation. And I think about his story that he was sealed with lions who were hungry all night. And I wonder maybe he did have fear and doubt in those moments. Maybe he didn't. Maybe he was like, this is really great right now, but is it gonna last all night? Because we know the lions were hungry because after Daniel's, okay. The lions are fed, the other people and the lions eat those guards and their family so they were hungry. So angels really did shut their mouth. So there's hope for you that maybe an angel will shut my mouth.

Sher: Oh, I thought you were gonna say An angel will shut my mouth. 

Cydni: I like to put it on myself so I don't sound like a jerk. 

Sher: But you were really thinking of me when you said it. Yeah, it 

Cydni: was projection. 

Sher: That's what I thought.

Cydni: So as we study this, a big question for [00:09:00] me is why were these people able to be so confident in God that they could have this courage? And the courage comes from wisdom, and it also comes from fear. And when we talk about fear, we mean fear in God, as in. Awe in his power, understanding who he is, just like the girl that gets pulled over and knows who her father is, that she's not gonna get a ticket. Just like that energy that we know because of our experiences and the knowledge and our application over and over and over, and we reflected on this, we see how God shows up again and again and again. And in that we can have confidence. And in that confidence we could act in courage. And courage is to move forward despite the cost and courage is not the absence of fear, but the mastery of it.

Sher: Cydni, I wanna give you a history example of this, of moving forward and the mastery over fear? 

Cydni: Well, [00:10:00] we, I just wanna say that the Bible's history too. So I first did history. 

Sher: That's true. 

Cydni: Now you could do history 

Sher: too. I'm gonna do more recent history. Okay. But this is an example of how our founders took steps one step at a time moving forward and putting their trust in God, they were able to do really what seemed to be impossible. There's no reason on Earth that we should have won the American Revolution, but we did.

And 100%, it was because of God. It was because God intervened on our behalf, because he wanted there to be religious freedom. And allow people to have their agency in all things, actually.

All right, so an example I'm gonna give you is from the war of 1812. Now, this was really early on in our history, so we're just barely getting our sea legs, and at the time, James Madison was our president, and , he's known as the Father of our Constitution. He did most of the heavy lifting and writing for the constitution. So many of our founders were still alive at this time, and they understood the covenant that was made and the miracle [00:11:00] that saved and protected this country to create it in the first place.

 In Genesis 49, this is where Jacob gives his 12 sons a patriarchal blessing. And he's basically passing the covenant from God to Abraham, to Isaac, to Jacob, to his 12 boys. the reason I'm telling you this is because when Washington became our president, when he was taking the oath of office, he opened the Bible to this page he took the oath of office with his hand on Genesis 49. When the oath was over, he kissed the open page. Now take from this what you will, but I think. Washington was renewing and acknowledging the covenant. Again, that in order to stay free, that we need to be a righteous people.

, So as a country of individuals. They took these steps and they prayed and they fasted and they turned to God and Washington. And so many of our founders saw the miracles that happened in order to win the revolution. [00:12:00] Now, with this in mind, what started the war of 1812 was Britain was kidnapping our citizens and sailors and forcing them to work on their ships.

And obviously we didn't like this, so we in turn decided to get even by going to Toronto and burning down the city, which obviously the British didn't like. And so they. Came down from Canada and they wanted to burn down Washington, dc I taught this part of the story to my class Cydni, and I focused on the war of 1812, just what I told you. But what I like to focus on is Dolly Madison, saving a lot of the historical items in the White House.

She lost so many of her own personal items in order to save important artifacts the reason Dolly Madison was put in charge of all of this is. James Madison was outta town at the time, and so Dolly Madison was the one in charge of evacuating the White House.

Okay? That is pretty much where I stopped the story with my students, and I foolishly did not know the entire story until [00:13:00] recently. Which is the best part. So the situation in Washington DC actually seemed pretty hopeless. But Americans turned to God and they prayed and they had done the work and most Americans at the time knew that they had made a covenant with God and they saw the miracles that happened in the American Revolution, and they knew that they could turn to God. And God keeps his promises 

Cydni: w America that's like how kids would be like, that's a win. 

Sher: Thank you. Mm-hmm. Okay. So Britain was determined to burn down the entire city, and they started a fire at the White House, the capitol building, the treasury building, the war department, and other buildings in the area.

But just a few hours later on August 13th, 1814. a huge rainstorm moved through the area and it put out all the fires that the British had started saving many of our buildings. And while it was raining. A tornado also hit the [00:14:00] area, and it was blowing so much around that it killed a few British soldiers and it even lifted up some of their cannons off the ground, and the rain and the wind was more of a detriment to the British than any of the Americans and the British were forced to retreat and leave the area. Many British soldiers said The storm was so intense that it scared them and they wondered if it was divine intervention. So even the British were saying this, Cydni, and this was all done in the space of two hours, and this became known as the storm that saved Washington.

Now to me, this is a reminder that God has this and he will prevail and we can take courage in this. He has promised us, God has made a covenant that we as his covenant believers, that he's not going anywhere. But we need to do our part and like our founders did, turn to God, pray fast, put our trust in Him.

Practice, [00:15:00] practice, and practice some more. Having faith in overcoming fear, yes. You're afraid it's scary, but we're just taking baby steps to overcome our fear.

Cydni: I wanted you to know that Ana and I read this together. She helped read over the outline and she loved the story. Oh, good. At first. And then she looked outside while it's raining and she said. Oh no. What have we 

Sher: done? Done? Exactly. 

Cydni: Why is God making it rain today? And I was like, well, look at your room. Look at the condition of your room. Did he not order you to be clean? Clean your room. 

Sher: But as we've talked about a million times, all of this is easier said than done because life happens and it doesn't seem like God is going to prevail.

And how many times in each of our lives and all of our lives have a situation. We've prayed and we had so much faith, and we just knew that God could change it or fix it, and then he didn't, We just have to get through the trial, but He's [00:16:00] there with us and He lifts us and He helps us. Elder Matthew Holland said.

Forsake not your own mercy. You have immediate access to divine help and healing despite your human flaws. This awe inspiring mercy comes in and through Jesus Christ because he knows and loves you perfectly. He offers it to you as your own, meaning it is perfectly suited to you, designed to relieve your individual agonies and heal your particular pains.

So for heaven's sake and yours, do not turn your back on that. Accept it. So this is what I learned from this quote. God is there with our own personal bandaid that's made just for us. But we need to accept that bandaid. God isn't gonna force it on us. He's not gonna force us to accept any of his gifts, but it's there if we want it and if we choose to receive it.

Also, I had this thought, I think sometimes we don't turn to God. [00:17:00] Because we think we're not worthy enough or that we are too messed up. We've made too many mistakes. And Elder Jeffrey R. Holland said, however late you think you are, however many chances you think you have missed, however many mistakes you feel you have made, or talents you think you don't have or however far from home and family and God you feel you have traveled.

I testify that you have not traveled beyond the reach of divine love. It is not possible for you to sink lower than the infinite light of Christ's atonement shines. So nothing, absolutely nothing is too difficult for God. We are never too far gone and there is nothing he can't handle.

There is nothing too overwhelming for him. we need to choose to allow him to prevail in our life. And just one more thought. If we think we are too far gone, this means that we are lessening what Christ did with the atonement.

It was all encompassing, all [00:18:00] powerful. It was for each one of us as individuals, this is for me, I'm saying this completely. For me, Christ can do anything and so if we put that faith in him and that trust in him and truly believe that there's nothing too overwhelming, then that does give me a little bit more capability of being brave and courageous. Because I find myself shutting my mouth way too much when I probably should say something 

Cydni: You saying that reminds me of a story my friend just shared with me a couple weeks ago she had this experience while getting tires for her car, and her last name is Lampson, and this was around Easter time and it's been a disaster for her to get these tires and they put the wrong size on and all of the problems that go with, you know, trying to be an adult took place. And she walked in and ready to get this fixed. And the gentleman that helped her, he said, Lambson well, what a glorious last name. It reminds me of our [00:19:00] Savior. He said two names of our Lord and Savior, lamb and Son. That's a beautiful last name. And she was just like, well, thank you. And it just immediately changed the whole entire energy for her. And then he got everything done for her and he had that same. Boldness about him, the entire experience. At the end he said, all right, you're all done. And she said, well, how much do I owe? And he is like, nothing. You don't owe anything for this. And she said, how could that be?

he said, I think it's a great time to thank God. I think this is a great opportunity to praise our Lord Jesus Christ and give thanks. When she told me the story I thought. Talk about living in full boldness and courage where you are planted because he's working in Costco in the tire department and he completely changed her perspective of living as a disciple and also mine, that you can live so much bolder than you [00:20:00] are living.

And a friend and I had a conversation about the gospel and she rephrased it. Such a beautiful way. She said we often underestimate just how big this gospel is.. We make it feel so small, I have been reflecting on this so much that how often do we make the principles of the gospel so much smaller than they are.

And it reminds me of lyrics that I didn't share that long ago, but I often think about this when I am struggling, or I feel like something's just overwhelming me. I remember the lyrics to a song we listened to at the Tabernacle Choir.

They sang My Goddess so High. The lyrics are, my God is so high, you can't get over him. He's so low, you can't get under him. He's so wide, you can't get around him. And I often think about those lyrics and I try to remind myself that when we live in fear and we live in doubt. We are living so small and the gospel [00:21:00] is so big, it is bigger than all of the issues that we are currently struggling with.

It's bigger than any of our problems and any of our failures and any of our sins, it's bigger. And if we can just tap into that power, then we will no longer live under our potential and under our privilege. . 

Sher: And if we can remember that, then I think it really will help us to be more brave and more courageous. And that song summed up much better than how I said it, the Savior's atonement. We can't go above it or under it or around it. too big. It's too encompassing. And that's the atonement, the gospel, the plan of happiness, everything that our Father in Heaven has put together to get us. Back home to be with him and to learn the lessons that we need to learn to be worthy to live with him. He has figured it all out. And that's why when we talked about the meeting in heaven that we rejoiced because. God wants us to live up to our potential, and [00:22:00] part of that means that we need to figure out how to overcome fear and be courageous in those hard times.

Cydni: That's perfect because the last line is you must come in by and through the lamb, 

Sher: and that is exactly why our Father in Heaven gave His Son. For us is because he knew that we could not do this. So. How grateful I am that a savior has been provided to make up for all of my shortcomings so that I have the potential to live with my family again and to live with my Father in Heaven and my Savior one day. The only way that could happen is going through our Savior. And if anyone set an example. Being brave and courageous. It is our Savior. 

Cydni: along with that, I don't think it's a coincidence that over and over in the scriptures are stories of people who did have fear and had reason to have fear and were told to not fear according to ai, it does say that there's some form of do not fear. I am [00:23:00] with you. 365 times in the Bible. Do you know what else is 365 

Sher: days in a year? 

Cydni: Yeah, I wasn't sure, so that's why I asked, just to make sure. I didn't wanna get the number wrong. I'm like, is it 360 4 or 365? But I love that idea that for every single day there is a do not fear in the Bible for us. So how about that? 

Sher: I think we need to read one of those every single day. 

Cydni: I should probably read 'em several times. And along with those , the stories in the Bible are there for us to learn from. You already talked about the greatest example, and there's more and more examples of men and women who were courageous and we have learned that being courageous is not the absence of fear. It is. Fear, but still moving forward. Courage is mastery over fear.

So it's there and that's okay, but our trust and our faith in God must be bigger. It must be higher. It must be lower. It must be more vast. It's [00:24:00] going to be there, but we have to have the mastery over it. Now, I don't know that we're going to need to. You know, bring down the walls of Jericho or Part a Red Sea.

But we are called to have courage on a daily basis in other ways. In coming days, I feel like it will be harder to confidently and boldly share our beliefs and it might be easier to hide under a blanket, but you can't do that Sher 

Sher: Why? 

Cydni: I like that. We're just like talking to each other today. Yeah, so glad everyone came to this therapy session today.

Sher: it has been helpful, 

Cydni: but we are asked to have courage in our daily living and our daily habits. We're asked to have courage and, and faith in the dark when we don't feel like life is going the way we thought it would, or the answers to our prayers are not being answered in the way we wanted, and we feel in the dark. We're asked to have courage and to continue forward when things don't feel like they're going the way we wanted them to, or when we're trying and we're just [00:25:00] failing over and over and over, and also over again and again and again. That was for me, that wasn't you. And again, we just want to remind that there were daily habits that every great hero from the scriptures did that helped them to be ready for the bigger moments of courage. And it was always talking with God continually. It was studying the scriptures and the words, and it's taking action. Even if you don't know what the outcome is. The duty is ours. The result is God's 

When I was studying Daniel, someone mentioned that he was a man of conviction and I loved that sentence. And our challenge for you is to become men and women of conviction and choose daily to intentionally. Draw closer to our Lord and Savior and intentionally share your testimony. As you do the daily habits, you will be grounded and rooted and established in the Gospel's truth, and [00:26:00] you will be able to live a bolder and more courageous life as you've been commanded.

Sher: And now for our final thoughts today, we've talked about how the same God who designed the plan of happiness, who parted seas, closed the mouth of lions and even set a tornado to save Washington DC is the same God who is fully present in your life right now. Nothing is too hard for him, and none of us are too far gone for his reach. So as you go about your week, remember Joshua one, nine. Be strong and courageous. Talk to God, study your scriptures and take action even when the outcome is uncertain. That's what courage really is. As followers of Christ, we have made a covenant with Him and thankfully, God always keeps his promises. This is our prayer 

Cydni: from Cydni and Sher. 

Sher: [00:27:00] Did that make sense? 

Cydni: It was perfect. 

Sher: You weren't listening 

Cydni: to what the 

Sher: ending. 

Cydni: It was great. You weren't listening. I was, I love it. I genuinely love it. I was listening, I swear, and reading along well until one part, and then I was thinking about, I was like, should I say Yeehaw? And I was like, no, I shouldn't. That's what happened. 

Sher: Are you on the wrong thing? 

Cydni: I'm not on the wrong thing. I just didn't realize there was a, oh wait, Peter? Yeah. Okay. I'm on the wrong thing.

Sher: Are you good? 

Cydni: Yeah. Be courageous. 

Sher: In January, I, I, I can't even talk. 

Cydni: It's hardly important in a podcast

I always think of that. The 10, what is, no, not the 10 virgins. What is it? Hold on. I always think of something that I don't know what I'm thinking of. 

Sher: The three blind mice? 

Cydni: No, close 10 virgin. You know that Bible story about the three blind mice? They couldn't see, [00:28:00] but they believed and they followed the cheese. 

Sher: Ooh. I like to follow cheese. 

Cydni: Who moved My cheese?

People would probably be better to read that than listen to this episode. I don't know what I am. 

Sher: I don't either 

Cydni: fix this.

Sher: What is the word? My brain's not working. Oh, win. That was the word I was trying to think of. 

Cydni: It's a tough one. That reminds me that my friend recently told me about this. I'm a snake now. Okay.

Sher: Let me get my pistol. 

Cydni: Wait a second. , I just like, sorry.

Sher: Now you sound like a rabbit 

Cydni: or a rat.

A rat. I am the year of the rat. 

Sher: I'm the year of a monkey. 

Cydni: Are you? Mm-hmm. We are a compatible and podcasting. 

Sher: It lied 

Cydni: monkey and rat. Ben's a monkey. You guys are both monkeys and Ana. Oh, I know this stuff 'cause I like it. Do want me to read your poem? No, I brought you a crystal.

 Like, Hey, it'd be really nice if when I come, there's a Mountain Dew down here for me. I've asked that before. 

Sher: I'll work on it, 

Cydni: and then you [00:29:00] could say, it'd be really nice if you were ever on time and followed the outline. Could you quit procrastinating? I'm a new woman in the big two six.

That means 2026. Oh, I 

Sher: thought it was your age. 

Cydni: Close. 

Sher: Thanks for joining us. 

Cydni: We're so glad you're here.