On The Hill Of Courage

 Ever felt afraid, shy, inadequate, or less? In the face of real-life challenges, a loss, task or necessary responsibilities, what is your first thought? Do you go: “this is obviously above my strength, or mental range, I might as well pretend it’s not there”, or “I can totally take this!”? If like me, you almost always pick the former, then buckle up and let’s do this together. Now, I’m not saying this would not be beneficial to the already strong-hearted, because it definitely will. So please, buckle up either ways.

  Courage is a lot of things. It can be defined, interpreted, in a lot of ways. But, I can tell you what it ‘isn’t’. 

 Courage is ‘not’ the lack of fear, or mental, physical, financial, spiritual inadequacy. It is, in fact,  deciding to face the situation head-on, in spite of the above! 

   Moses told Joshua and the people of Isreal, right when he was about to die, that they should be of Good Courage, having the knowledge that God is the one leading them (Deut 31:6-8). He perceived that the journey ahead, especially for Joshua, would be tough, but instead of letting that be the focal point, Moses emphasized on the truth; that God was leading them. He knew from experience that, nothing was bigger and more encouraging than this truth.

   I’m currently struggling with differentiating between the leading of God, through His spirit, and the leading of my emotions. I know that my emotions would most likely not lead me to anywhere in God’s plan, because they focus, mostly, on me, hence the importance of following God’s leading. 

As Christians, I’m certain this is a constant struggle, but the scriptures reassure us constantly that, as long as God is the one leading us, victory is sure. 

   I’ve come to see God as my Compass. He is my creator anyway, so He definitely had a purpose for me in mind during the creating process. Besides, being a Content Creator has taught me that behind every write up or photo, is a story, that either puts a question in the mind of the audience, clears a particular doubt or explains a concept. Either way, there is a purpose!

  I believe Courage is feeling blindsided by a rapid turn of events, or ‘coincidences’, and immediately running for cover-this cover is our Jehovah God, as the Bible explains in detail, in Psalms 91-to regroup, gain strength, and come back to face said challenge(s).

   At this point, I’ll like to state that we run for a number of reasons. It could be fear, doubt, hurt or literal shock. But we run to Him with the knowledge that He already foresaw these events and made arrangements for us. We run to Him asking, “what would you have me do?”. 

 These moments with Him are the ones I’ll forever be most grateful for. The moments, where because of the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross for us, we can boldly, without shame, say “I cannot do this on my own, please help me, Father”.  Believe it or not, in these vulnerable moments, we express real Courage. 

   There is Courage in knowing that you might not be able to handle a particular situation, and going ahead to face it, trusting in your abilities to handle the situation. 

In fact, life is for the Courageous.

   So, the next time your first instinct is to run and hide, do so by all means. But remember, Courage says “I’ll be back!”