Have you ever wondered what the word Courage really meant? Courage can be used in many ways…a person may have courage or be courageous. It is many times referred to when someone goes to battle, they show courage. The word Courage is defined as “also known as bravery, intrepidity, and loyalty. It is the ability to confront fear, pain, risk/danger, uncertainty or intimidation” Did you also know that there are two types of courage, physical and moral. Physical courage is to endure physical pain, hardship and the threat of death. Moral courage is to “act rightly even in the face of popular shame.” Sounds like common sense, right? Can you think of someone that shows courage in a certain area of their life? I have been thinking a lot about this word. You see I took a wonderful life changing trip to BC, Canada with my dad in October (which I will tell about later) but while we were there I thought a lot about courage. I learned to confront many fears like sleeping in the woods with wolves and bears, not taking showers and killing huge animals! We also received some bad news while we were there. My sweet Pawpaw found out that he had lymphoma. The doctors were very positive and felt with treatments he would be fine. Today we received more alarming news. My Grandpa now also has bone cancer. When I found this out tears came to my eyes and my heart hurt for him. Have you ever felt that way before? Has your heart ever felt pain for someone else’s pain? Hearing this news I know my God is capable of healing. I know He has the power to do anything. I know that to endure something like cancer it takes a completely different kind of courage. I also have realized through circumstances in my own life that God my Savior is the provider of courage. He is the peace giver, the strength we are in such need of. Courage is defined as “the ability to confront fear” You see the fear is not absent, because it must be confronted, faced and endured. Beth Moore describes courage as “not the absence of fear but that something so much more important is at stake”! This is so true! I can think of so many more things important than “fear”. I tend to fear so many things that I know I shouldn’t. If I were honest with myself my greatest fear is probably the unknowns about death. Someone once said “Are we going to die 100 deaths dreading the 1?” I know that God is in control and He holds our life in his hands; but I know that I’m not the only one that sometimes wants to say “Okay God we need to have a talk! Can I just get a simple break down here? I know you’re in charge but can you give me a chance to handle one thing at a time?” Sadly I feel that way more than I should; however, I must realize that in all of this what appears as chaos to me, God is working His master plan. I know that we all seem to be searching for our destiny’s, our perfect fulfilling life, but have you ever realized when our destiny’s become realities they never make us feel like we think they will? It seems when we get headed in one direction God all of a sudden uses some sort of crisis to change our direction! It seems so hard when God pulls us out and sets us on a new track in a new direction. It takes courage to confront the fear of what may wait ahead for us. Can you imagine living without fear? I have been studying Esther a lot, and I have discovered I would love to have her courage! I pray that I have the strength God provides and will be able to come to the point in my life that I can honestly say “If I perish, I perish” How courageous! I don’t believe one minute that in all of that time Esther did not have fear, but she had courage and realized something so much more important than her fear or even her own life was at stake! In saying all of this I pray for each person that may read this. I know that at one point in life or another we all are going to need the courage God provides to get through this journey. Things happen in life and someone may need Physical Courage like my Grandpa to endure cancer; or moral courage to stand up when things are hard and doing what is right is not easy at all! When we have courage through God we can get through and endure the most difficult times in our lives; (I PROMISE!), we can accomplish goals we never thought were possible. Through a study I have been doing I have realized that our destiny is not complete until God takes the earth at the very end. This proves that we need to pray everyday of our lives to push back the fear, stand firm and have courage because something so much more important than fear is at stake, and that is, eternal life! Have a blessed day!
Love Les
