Courage dear heart

“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.

In a few moments the darkness turned
into a greyness ahead, and then, almost before they dared to begin
hoping, they had shot out into the sunlight and were in the warm,
blue world again. And all at once everybody realized that there was
nothing to be afraid of and never had been. They blinked their eyes
and looked about them. The brightness of the ship herself astonished
them: they had half expected to find that the darkness would cling to
the white and the green and the gold in the form of some grime or
scum. And then first one, and then another, began laughing.”

-The Voyage of the Dawn Treader C.S.
Lewis

Courage is a word that has been on my
mind and my heart now for many many months. The idea of speaking
courage into someone, the idea of taking courage and walking in it…
Encouraging. Courage. I love the word. It would be nearly impossible
to explain why that word means so much to me but when I hear it, it
speaks of something to the deepest part of my heart.

“Courage, dear heart.”

The last few days I have been lacking
courage. I feel like it went missing and I wrote in my journal a few
mornings ago that I feel as though my courage has been stolen from
me. I do not like it.

“Courage ,dear heart.”

Us as a team have been feeling under
spiritual attack… and was feeling weak in courage to rise up
against it. I covet your prayers for us as a team. Pray that we
find courage.

“Courage, dear heart.”

I was recently stuck in bed all day
physically unable to participate in ministry. I spent a lot of time
reading my Bible and praying. In reading I was reminded of the
consistency of God. How his promises are true and that he promises to
be faithful. “God is good all the time, all the time God is good
because it is his nature”. They say that all the time here in
Africa. And it is so true. It is Gods nature to be faithful. Those
are his rules he set up and he stands by them.

I have been reading The Voyage of the
Dawn Treader. I love those stories, I love Narnia and I love
imagining that I am really there… and I find that I relate to the
character of Lucy in so many ways. I was reading and found yet
another beautiful illustration of how Jesus interact with me through
the interactions of Lucy and Aslan…

“She turned on and found to her
surprise a page with no pictures at all, but the first words were ‘A
spell to make hidden things visible’. She read it through to make
sure of all the hard words and then said it out loud. And she knew at
once that it was working…

…At that moment she heard soft, heavy
footfalls coming along the corridor behind her; and of course she
remembered what she had been told about the Magician walking in his
bare feet and making no more noise than a cat. It is always better
to turn around than to have anything creeping up behind your back.
Lucy did so.

Then her face lit up till, for the
moment (but of course she didn’t know it), she looked almost as
beautiful as that other Lucy in the picture, and she ran forward with
a little cry of delight and with her arms stretched out. For what
stood in the doorway was Aslan himself, the Lion, the highest of all
High Kings. And he was solid and real and warm and he let her kiss
him and bury herself in the shining mane. And from the low,
earthquake-like sound that came from inside him, Lucy even dared to
think that he was purring.

“Oh, Aslan,” said she, “it was
kind of you to come.”

“I have been here all the time,”
said he, “but you have just made me visible.”

“Aslan!” said Lucy almost a little
reproachfully. “Don’t make fun of me. As if anything I could do
would make you visible!”

“It did,” said Aslan. “Do you
think I wouldn’t obey my own rules?”

-Voyage of the Dawn Treader C.S.
Lewis

I am being reminded that my courage is
found in the faithfulness of my father in heaven. I am being reminded
that his faithfulness cannot be stolen from me. It is against the
nature of my Father.

“Courage, dear heart.”

I desire to walk in that courage.

“Courage, dear heart.”

I now am beginning to see the darkness
fading… and am seeing that there is “nothing to be afraid of and
never had been.”