"Courage"

(Last Sunday, I posted that I had chosen one single word to help guide me through 2014. That word is Acceptance and I have it posted on my desk here where I write. But I had come up with an entire list of possible words. I thought I would share a few of them here over the next few weeks.)

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 New International Version

Courage. When have I ever had to be courageous? I have never been kidnapped. Thank God. I have never had to disarm a bomb. Thank God. I have never been face to face with a wild bear in the woods. Oh, hold it. I was face to face with a black bear in my own backyard when I was seven or eight years old. Within two seconds, I had turned, run into the house, run through the entire house to my bedroom and leaped into my bed where I didn’t move for hours. That was some courage.

But I have faced getting a divorce, my dad dying from Alzheimer’s, and my sister being diagnosed with cancer (that was all in one year). I dealt with my sister dying from her cancer, my mom moving (twice), my husband losing his job (twice) and putting to sleep several pets. I’ve survived job stress, a teen-age daughter, a college-age son and a foreign exchange student from Portugal. And even the good things take some fortitude – buying a house, remodeling a house, getting remarried. 

I managed to get through my minor car accident last month, but I did not handle last week’s migraine with nearly as much grace. Every day we face something, whether small or large. We may not realize it, but it is courage that gets us through those days and it is God who gives us the courage to get through the worst of those times.

Dear Heavenly Father, grant me the courage to face my biggest challenges and my smallest inconveniences. Help me to remember that with You by my side, I can face anything, even a bear in the backyard. Amen

Thankfully, the largest wild animals in my backyard are the deer.