COURAGE

(by William L. Stevenson-- November 8, 1992)

I have been thinking a lot about this subject for the past few weeks. For most of my life, I
have mainly just shown courage in doing things diligently and as accurately as I could. During
most of my schooling, I was a worrying, introvert who was fearful of what others might think or
do if I said or did something to offend them. During tests and concerts, I also seemed to always
have had fears at what others might think of me. Sometimes I would worry two hours after
turning in a test about how the teacher may react to my answers and I would rarely smile when
performing with my flute or on the piano. Only God kept me from having ulcers and serious
health problems or at least one mental breakdown. Because of upsets and injustices against my
family and me, I have been surprised to have courage to be outspoken at times and able to do
some public speaking and administration. I am still amazed that I some how got courage to go
away to college (three in fact), to get married, to have sex, to have four wonderful children, to
relocate many times, and to make thousands of decisions.
I am so thankful to God that He has developed courage in me to do so many different
things, including using computers and driving a car. At General circuits Inc., I practically self-
taught myself about how the company was organized and about EXCEL/Windows, macro-
command programming in order to develop a good database report generating system after the
computer systems analyst was abruptly fired. (I felt like giving up right then, but the Holy Spirit
urged me to just try to proceed.) I relied on learning by “trial and error” and wisdom from God,
and I did not seek advice from experienced EXCEL users, from the EXCEL software macro-
command program examples, or from the Microsoft Help-Line. My system was almost
completed just when General Circuit’s regular computer report generating system crashed. The
old saying “where there is a will, there usually is a way” is true. I also had a lot of fear about
driving from 1965 until 1989 and was ridiculed scorned so many times for not at least having a
driving license, but now I enjoy driving and only have one ticket after about 14,000 miles. And I
learned how to be a good driver by mainly applying Proverbs 3:5 & 6 and Philippians 4:6 with
very little advice from others. But I make mistakes in both car and computer using when I allow
myself (1) to become too confident or (2) to think pridefully. So when God gives me courage to
do or/and say things, I must be thankful and avoid relying on my past experience and knowledge.
Also, I should not feel that I need td prove my courage and skills to anyone. Proverbs 3:5 & 6
says that I am just supposed to trust in God, acknowledge Him, and then be sensitive to His
directing my life via the Holy Spirit in me. I don’t need to pray for courage or prove courage to
anyone. The latter can be dangerous especially when driving a car. Self generated courage or
courage urged by others is usually wrong and will result in pride, and the Bible says that pride
comes before a fall or disaster.
God-given courage can also be for “tough love” situations. Because I have always enjoyed
encouraging others, I have rarely shown courage in standing up for my rights or exhorting others.
(I just realized that the base or root word of “encourage” is “courage”. Especially in the times
we are in, it takes courage to be positive for others by encouraging them when the usual expected
relating done in most situations is criticizing, scorning, ridiculing, arguing, or ignoring.} In
situations where I have been offended or “hurt”, I usually have just remained silent and tolerant
when I witness what I think or/and know is wrong, and prayed in my mind. It seems like
whenever I showed courage in the area of exhortation relating, I got in trouble, even though it
seems to be all right when the offended do such speaking out. But I also realize it takes courage
to keep moral, ethical, patient, and tolerant. Courage for such reasons is rarely encouraged or
respected. Courage for fighting, rebuking, criticizing, boasting, lying, and doing immorality
seems to be frequently encouraged and respected. But I will keep wanting to have more courage
for God pleasing things. In Ephesians 1, it states that we were made for His pleasure. In
Ephesians 2, it states that Christians are to be channels of His grace and doers of predestined
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good works. So I will continue just wanting courage for good work, encouraging _relationships,
and other ministry. My new job requires me to tolerate a lot of swearing by my boss (not against
me) and that requires courage. I can see why the former mail sorter was thankful to be fired.
But I also have had to have courage to apply Proverbs 3:5 & 6 and learn about seven new duties
and a different computer software as quickly as possible.
The following came to me during a community worship/prayer time on Election Eve of
1992:
C-- commitment to God’s truth
O-- obedience to the Holy Spirit
U-- understanding God’s desires
R-- revival spiritually
A-- attentiveness for opportunities to minister
G-- gratefulness to God, especially for His protection
E--enduring in faith of our Lord Jesus Christ (Galatians 2:20)
I hope this short essay/testimony has been encouraging and helpful to you. Please join with me
in promoting courage from God for good words and good actions. Are you courageous enough to
help others anywhere? Are you courageous enough to keep moral and ethical even if it might
mean you could lose your job, your family, or your life? I have felt like giving up courageous
compassionate, moral, and ethical living many times, but God would not allow me to do so. He
is so great and is the only 100% promise keeper. All I need to do is to keep loving (especially
thanking) Him and He will give me all the courage I need to survive and succeed in any situation
I am in. He has done the latter every time in over 40 years-of many challenging situations. The
Bible says that He is not only the author or starter of my faith, but that He will complete the
work of faith in me so that I will not be ashamed when I meet my Savior and Lord Jesus Christ
face to face in the future. What a courage to look forward to!!!

Note: I had a lot of courage before going up to Idaho in October of 2000, but since my car slid
into a gully on Sagle Road in the first day of snow and ice, I have slowly lost that courage and
now have very little left. Now I feel I don't fit anywhere, except in doing ministry via the
Internet. (November 11, 2004)

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