You Can't Be Brave Until You're Scared Bible Study Guide

A Call for Courageous Women to Face Fear, Fight Anxiety, and Awaken Holy Awe

Jess Connolly

• Publisher: Baker Books
• Year: 2026
• eBook ISBN:
  9781493456574
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Self Improvement

You don't have to be fearless to be brave

Fear is no longer a quiet undercurrent in women's lives--it's a crisis. Nearly one in three women in the United States will experience an anxiety disorder in her lifetime, with numbers rising fastest among younger women. Culturally, the message makes it worse: if you're not scared, you're not paying attention. But many of us have absorbed an equally crushing message from the church: that fear itself is a failure of faith. Scripture tells a different story. God doesn't call us to follow Him fear-free. He calls us to be strong and courageous because He knows we're scared--not in spite of it.

This Bible study guide is the companion to Jess Connolly's You Can't Be Brave Until You're Scared--designed to help you go further into the book's teaching through deeper Scripture engagement, honest personal reflection, and honest conversation with others. Whether you're working through it on your own or leading a group, this guide will help you:
● Trace your fears to their source--going beneath the symptoms of anxiety into what's actually driving your fear
● Engage deeply with Scripture--studying the biblical passages at the heart of each chapter and letting God's Word speak directly into your experience of fear
● Discover why the biblical fear of the Lord is not a threat but a rescue--and how holy awe displaces the lesser fears that have been running your life
● Move from knowing to living--with reflection questions and application exercises that turn theological truth into practiced courage

An ideal resource for women's small groups, Bible study groups, and church women's ministry programming--and equally powerful for the individual reader who wants to go deeper than the book alone.

It's time to stop obeying fear and start living as the brave woman God already sees.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• Week 1 We Are Scared: A Shame-Free Invitation to the Beginning of Bravery
• Week 2 We Are Reverent: Moving from Scared of God to Fearing the Lord
• Week 3 We Are Fighters: Moving from Scared of the Dark to Spiritual Warfare
• Week 4 We Are Leaders: Moving from Fear of Man to Abundant Relationships
• Week 5 We Are Free: Moving from Shame to Being at Home with Ourselves
• Week 6 We Are Courageously Called: Moving from Fear-Filled to Confident
• About the Author
• Back Cover