Courage

Courage-What is it? Who has it? Where does it come from?

My 2 year old has this saying she picked up from her Papaw and The Wizard of Oz- "Come on put up your dukes, put up your dukes!" The other day she kept repeating it and it got me to thinking about the Cowardly Lion. All he wanted was courage. In the end he found that he just needed to believe in himself to find his true courage.

I have learned that courage is admitting when your wrong, accepting things you can not change and relying on Christ and the Father to pick you up when you are at your lowest. It means to laugh in the face of adversity and difficult times. To stand up against your woes and say,"NO! I have Christ and He is all that I need!" To me it means having the ability to fall on your knees and not only lean on Him in hard times, but also to praise His name and thank Him for all the blessings He has given you in your life. ALL the blessings, even the ones that were hard for you to understand at the time. Everything that He has put you through is to make you who you are today and to make you accept His glory. I am so glad that I have the COURAGE to stand up and say,"Yes, I have been put through the ringer, and yes I have messed up, but, I have Christ and that is all I need to give me courage. Many ask and comment that, after losing a child, I am strong.But to be honest I would not be anywhere if it were not for MY GOD.

Everyone has courage they just have to find it within themselves. Anyone has the ability to rely on Him during their difficult times. And, when they accept Christ, He is willing to provide for our every need. My courage is strong, but my FAITH is stronger! Although I did get angry at God because I did not understand why he gave me such a difficult task, I never turned my back on HIM. I cried out to HIM and shouted that I surrendered to His will. I think that by doing this HHe has given me the greatest gift-PEACE with Ethan's death. I want to remind anyone who is going through a difficult time that if you go to Christ in your time of need, you WILL find your COURAGE to make it through. My Ethan lived a short but beautiful life. Through this life I witnessed Christ's love for me and was able to find the COURAGE to let my son go with HIM.