Awakening is one thing. Walking in it is another.
It is easy to think differently in your mind. It is harder to live differently in a world that constantly pulls you back into the old ways. But if life had taught me anything, it was this: nothing changes until you move.
After my awakening, I started to test my new-found belief slowly, carefully at first, and then with boldness. I wanted to see if life would actually reward me when I chose bravery over fear.
Breaking Away from Old Patterns
The first step was silence. Not the silence of fear, but the silence of withdrawal. I stopped engaging in endless religious arguments. I stopped trying to please everyone in church. I stopped living as though God's approval depended on how loudly I shouted "Amen."
I started studying people not just saints, but successful men and women of the world. I noticed something striking: the majority of them were not half as "righteous" as the pastors described, yet they commanded influence, wealth, and respect. What they had was bravery. They dared to do what others feared. They dared to fail. They dared to risk.
It dawned on me: perhaps bravery is the real righteousness life honors.
First Acts of Courage
My first true act of bravery was saying no.
No to manipulation. No to guilt-tripping. No to the idea that my destiny was tied to how much tithe I dropped.
It wasn't easy. People looked at me differently. Some said I had backslidden. Some avoided me. Some whispered prayers behind my back, asking God to bring me back "into the fold."
But I was not lost. For the first time in my life, I was found.
Then came the second act of bravery: speaking my truth.
I started writing down my thoughts, my doubts, my discoveries. Sometimes I shared them with close friends. Sometimes I said them out loud. At first, people were shocked. Some even accused me of blasphemy. But others nodded quietly, and later confessed: "I have always felt the same way, but I was too scared to say it."
That was when I knew I was not alone. There were many like me, waiting for someone to speak what they secretly felt.
Facing Life Squarely
Once I detached myself from fear, I began to see opportunities more clearly. I realized that my future was not going to be decided in the four walls of a church building it would be decided by the courage of my choices.
I started learning skills that could feed me. I started building networks, meeting people outside the narrow circle of religion. I worked harder, smarter, and braver. And slowly, I began to taste freedom.
Not the freedom of wealth just yet, but the freedom of self-respect. The freedom of knowing I could stand before any man without begging. The freedom of knowing I was no longer a slave to fear.
Clashes with the Old Guard
Of course, the old system did not like it.
When you begin to walk in bravery, you become a threat to those who profit from your fear.
I remember one pastor pulling me aside after service, saying:
"You are too wise in your own eyes. Be careful, or the devil will use you."
I smiled. But inside, I laughed. Because I had finally understood: the "devil" they feared was often nothing more than free thinking.
Another time, a relative told me, "All this your new way of thinking will lead you to hell."
And I answered, "If poverty and ignorance is heaven, then let me risk hell."
It was not arrogance. It was conviction. I was no longer willing to trade my life for their comfort.
The New Path
Walking in bravery also meant I started redefining success.
I stopped waiting for miracles to put food on my table. I stopped waiting for "prophecies" about my destiny. I started creating my own path.
There were failures, of course. Times when I took risks and fell hard. But even in those moments, I felt stronger than when I was safe but afraid. Because every failure taught me something, while fear had only taught me how to shrink.
And as I walked further down this new path, something strange began to happen: doors started opening. Not because I prayed harder than others, but because I dared to knock where others were too timid to even stand.
It was then I finally understood what life rewards: not endless righteousness without action, but bravery backed with persistence.
Life, indeed, rewards the brave.