Ordinary People, Extraordinary Courage

Ordinary People, Extraordinary Courage

Be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid and do not panic before them. For the LORD your God will personally go ahead of you. He will neither fail you nor abandon you.

Deuteronomy 31:6

All of us face difficult times sooner or later. I remember being in a Southern museum and seeing an 1863 letter from a Confederate soldier. His message, in part, said, “Some of us are poor, some of us are rich. Some of us are old, some of us are young. But we all bleed the same.”

While I’ve never been in a physical war, my plunge into widowhood taught me the truth of universal pain. And I’ve had many opportunities to study Scripture passages containing the command “Be strong and courageous.” From my time spent with those numerous verses, I’m convinced displaying strength and courage is an act of our will rather than an automatic response.

When I think of courageous decisions, I ponder my husband’s quick smile despite his cancer or my Aunt Adah’s gentle acceptance of her debilitating brain disease. Sometimes I think of people like my parents, who left the familiar to start new lives and became part of a great migration from the South to the industrial North in the early 1950s; or missionary friends, who moved to a foreign country; or my dear Canadian daughter-in-law, who moved to the United States to marry my son. Sometimes the courageous face before me belongs to a stroke or accident victim who chooses to adjust to his or her disability. Sometimes I see single parents who climb over great obstacles to care for their children. Sometimes courage comes in the form of parents who carry to term the baby others suggested they abort.

Through the years, I have learned courage doesn’t always mean rushing into battle. Often it calls for staying in the battle by trusting the Lord and putting one foot in front of the other. —SANDRA

Lord, choosing to be strong and courageous is not what I want to do. When tough times come, I want to sit under a shade tree and cheer as you fight the battle for me. But since life doesn’t allow me to do that, I ask for your strength and your victory.

There are only two or three human stories, and they go on repeating themselves as fiercely as if they had never happened before.

—WILLA CATHER (1873–1947), AMERICAN NOVELIST