Living Courageously: You Can Face Anything, Just Do It Afraid by Joyce Meyer Page A

underneath a road and then emptied into the main culvert. Ray dashed out the door and raced along the ditch, trying to get ahead of the foundering child. Then he hurled himself into the deep, churning water. Blankenship surfaced and was able to grab the child’s arm. They tumbled end over end. Within about three feet of the yawning culvert, Ray’s free hand felt something—possibly a rock—protruding from one bank. He clung desperately, but the tremendous force of the water tried to tear him and the child away.
If I can just hang on until help comes…
he thought. He did better than that. By the time the fire-department rescuers arrived, Blankenship had pulled the girl to safety. Both were treated for shock. On April 12, 1989, Ray Blankenship was awarded the Coast Guard’s Silver Lifesaving Medal. The award is fitting, for this selfless person was at even greater risk to himself than most people knew. Ray Blankenship can’t swim. 1
    Ray Blankenship would have surely been afraid had he taken time to think about what he was about to do, but courage from within motivated him to do what would have seemed impossible to him had he thought about it. I believe we all have courage, but sadly we think too much about the things that frighten us, and those things prevent us from being our best. We are all capable of great things if we will live courageously.
    We are all capable of great things if we will live courageously.
    Courage takes a chance and tries to do something rather than passively sitting by and doing nothing. At times a fine line exists between courage and foolishness, and I certainly am notadvocating foolishness, but at times we must at least be willing to take a chance if we are ever going to do anything courageously. I have often been told that I cannot do this thing or that thing, yet I have felt that God wanted me to try, and I did. I have attempted to live my life motivated by what I feel in my heart, not what I am told by others. It has worked well for me and although I have made some mistakes, I have had more successes than failures, and that is what people remember. I am admittedly not overly educated or amazingly creative, but I have cultivated faith in God and have chosen courage as a way of life, and you can do the same thing.
    When Peter stepped out of the boat to attempt to walk on water as Jesus was doing, I am sure he felt a mixture of fear and courage, and courage won out. He surely knew that he could end up looking foolish in front of the other disciples, but he took a chance. Peter didn’t think about the fact that he could not walk on water, he just got out of the boat and tried. He did indeed walk on water for a short distance and then as he saw and thought about the storm he began to sink (see Matthew 14:28–31). The story is not repeatedly told today so people will remember how Peter sank when he tried; instead, we tell it so we remember he DID walk on water. We can see from this one biblical account that heroism and courage is remembered and celebrated. If you believe you are supposed to do something, go for it! Even if you only partially succeed, you will still be better off than those who didn’t even try. The worst thing that can happen is you will fail; but if you don’t even try, you have failed already.
    If miracles were being sold in cans we would all run to the store and buy as many as we could, and the truth is that miracles do come in “cans”… they come as we believe that with God, we can!
God Calls Joshua
    Be strong, courageous, and firm; fear not nor be in terror before them, for it is the Lord your God Who goes with you; He will not fail you or forsake you.
    Deuteronomy 31:6
    When God told Joshua that he was to finish leading the Israelites into the Promised Land after Moses had died, I am sure Joshua felt fearful about the task. God wasn’t telling him not to
“feel”
fear, He was telling him to face the fear with courage. We see the phrase “fear not” repeated over