Increasing Courage

Increasing Courage

I fully expect and hope that I will never be ashamed, but that I will continue to be bold for Christ, as I have been in the past. And I trust that my life will bring honor to Christ, whether I live or die. Philippians 1:20

As my family and I continued to battle our medical fog, I realized my definition of courage had changed. In my senior year of college, I had worked as a civilian secretary for an ROTC unit during the Vietnam War. In addition to my usual clerical duties, I had the opportunity to view several aspects of the future soldiers’ jungle survival training, including one ranger’s demonstration of skinning a snake using only his hands and teeth!

Since I was surrounded with military examples, I decided courage was best demonstrated by fresh-faced young men rushing into battle. Then after the war had ended, a local nursing home burned, and several firemen risked their lives to save the elderly patients. I added them to my list of those I saw as models of courage.

Next, I heard stories of martyred South American pastors who refused to deny their faith even when challenged by rebel soldiers. My list continued to grow. But always it consisted of folks whose courage was public.

Then my young husband was diagnosed with metastatic brain cancer, and the doctors said he had as little as two weeks or as “long” as three months to live. Suddenly I had a new example of courage: Don, who was determined not to let the doctors bury him yet. I watched as he grabbed each day’s joy, and I marveled at how he could face death with such quiet courage. —SANDRA

Lord, too often I look for courage in others, not realizing you offer it to me as well. Help me to receive it from your hand. Help me to face whatever comes my way, strengthened by your power and your presence.

Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear, not absence of fear.

—MARK TWAIN (PSEUDONYM OF SAMUEL CLEMENS, 1835–1910), AMERICAN WRITER