Courage, dear heart

It called out in a strong sweet voice what seemed to be words though no one understood them...But no one except Lucy knew that as it circled the mast it had whispered to her, “Courage, dear heart,” and the voice, she felt sure, was Aslan’s, and with the voice a delicious smell breathed in her face.
-The Voyage of the Dawn Treader by C.S. Lewis

Isn't it amazing how one simple word can just give you that simple push to keep going, literally it can just be one word or sometimes like in the above quote it can be part of a bunch of words and all of it together also can give you that push to keep going or to get up after a sit down or a trip or a fall even a fail. If you read my previous post you know I had a sit down as I like to call it, or set back but during those times I kept seeing some words and such that encouraged me. One of those words was courage. Cause as I stated somewhat in the last post sometimes in life you find yourself surrounded by walls of lies and fears and doubts and it feels like the light is quickly fading like it does on a winter day. I'm learning something or being reminded of it but even in the midst of those times there somehow, some way always seems to be a beacon of hope, be it in a word that seems to show up everywhere you look or someone sending a text, email or just telling you in person something that is the exact thing that you needed reminding of or that you needed to hang on to the truth, to the light. Can I be honest with you? Sometimes during these times that it gets a bit dark I sometimes wonder where God is, now before you do *gasp* I would never how dare someone say that and you say you are a Christian. I know God is always there and He'll never leave nor forsake me but sometimes it's hard to hear or remember those truths or keep a firm grasp on them. In these times I hang on for dear life though and always without fail, it may take longer than I like or it may feel like forever, but always there will come a time when someone will say something or just be there to encourage or even just be like look it's time you get your butt up (because sometimes tough love is what you need too). So in my recent time of Lord help me not to give up some themes seemed to be popping up everywhere. Most of them had to do with courage. I'll list them all at the end that kept showing up, maybe they'll help you too but right now I have to share one that showed up on my FB yesterday because you know how I said sometimes God seems far away and I wonder are you there, am I bothering God, does He care about a little problem such as mine when so much else is going on....well this verse showed up and I think it answered those questions:

Fear not, for I am with you;
Be not dismayed, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you,
Yes, I will help you,
I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.
Isaiah 41:10

Now to continue with the courage thing, I'm a quiet person even when I do talk, and I can talk you just got to pick the right subjects, but when I do talk there's going to be several times you have to say what. With that I sometimes think I get stuck in because I'm quiet and sometimes timid and such that I don't really have any courage and not really much I can do. Kind of a who am I type thing. Had a fairly big epiphany about that earlier this morning. A lot of times I think we get stuck in how many times we roar and even how loud we roar and if you're like me and not good at either one of those well you think you are the cowardly lion. You know the cool thing about the cowardly lion, his legs may have been shaking his roar might have even been a bit shaky and not quite as loud and impressive as one thought it should be but he faced many of his fears. I love this quote from The Wizard of Oz:

 Cowardly Lion: All right, I'll go in there for Dorothy. Wicked Witch or no Wicked Witch, guards or no guards, I'll tear them apart. I may not come out alive, but I'm going in there. There's only one thing I want you fellows to do.
Tin Woodsman, Scarecrow: What's that?
Cowardly Lion: Talk me out of it!

See even though he was scared and shaking and even said talk me out of it he had the courage to do it twitching tail and shaky legs and all. See my a-ha! moment this morning was we think courage is having the most and loudest roar and standing on firm ground without an ounce of shaking in the legs or an ounce of fear. But I think courage is saying alright I'll go, I'll face this and when you stand it might take a minute to get your footing and during the whole time you still might have some shakiness in your legs but your standing. When you go to roar it might come out weak, you might have to clear your throat and might even have to say it again but you have a voice and you're using it. And sometimes we're like Lucy and we hear that small voice that says, Courage, dear heart that little voice that says you aren't alone, most importantly I got you and along the way I've got some people that will be there to help remind you of this too. So today if you feel like the cowardly lion or just think your roar is to weak to make a difference to even be heard can I just say, Courage, dear heart.

  Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the LORD your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.
Deuteronomy 31:6

 
Psalm 31:24 “Be of good courage, and he shall strengthen your heart, all ye that hope in the LORD.”

And lastly this is a quote/poem that I stumble across from time to time and I just really love it (me and my obsession with quotes and all) but I think it says so much and is just really encouraging.


When things go wrong as they sometimes will,
When the road you’re trudging seems all uphill,
When the funds are low and the debts are high,
And you want to smile but you have to sigh,
When care is pressing you down a bit
Rest if you must, but don’t you quit.
Success is failure turned inside out,
The silver tint on the clouds of doubt,
And you can never tell how close you are,
It may be near when it seems afar.
So, stick to the fight when you’re hardest hit
It’s when things go wrong that you mustn’t quit.
Unknown