“Courage, dear heart.” That is one of my favorite quotes from C.S. Lewis, and I have been reminded of it many times recently.

When I think about people who have courage, I think about people such as Corrie Ten Boom who was imprisoned in a concentration camp, Elisabeth Elliot who ministered to the people that murdered her husband, Esther Ahn Kim who stood up for her faith to the Japanese who took control of Korea, Amy Carmichael who moved to India alone and rescued orphans, and the list could go on and on.

All of those women displayed courage in major ways, and when I was younger those are the people I wanted to be like. I still want to be like them. They are some of my heroes.  I’ve had the thoughts many times, “if only I could go overseas and be a missionary then I would really be courageous — then I would feel purposeful,” or “If only I were married and serving my husband and the ministry God has for a family then I would be living a fulfilled calling,” or if only I were able to travel more and not be bogged down with health problems then I would meet more people and have more career opportunities — then I would be secure.”

None of these things mentioned are bad and to certain people they are God’s calling. However, right now in my life, they are not my calling. I can live in the “if-only’s” all I want, but that is not going to change the now. I was praying the other day and said, “God, if only I was in better physical health right now, just think of all I could do for you and all the places we could go. Lord, if you would let that occur that would be wonderful.” Yes, it would be wonderful, but the Lord whispered back, “Yes, my child, but what about the now. What if the calling I am asking of you is this hard season, right here, right now. It takes just as much courage to stay put in the hard as it takes to be on the go doing something else. That “something else” has its hard as well.” The Lord reminded me he does not want me to live in the “if onlys,” but He wants me to live in “the now.”

He has as much purpose in “the nows” as He does in the “if onlys” even though our human hearts do not always believe that to be true.  In those quiet moments the Lord said, “Take Courage, dear heart, take courage, your life is worth a great price to me and you have an enormous purpose today. Believe that, daughter.”

Friend, if you are struggling like me right now, and if your life has not turned out the way you thought it would — God still has a plan and a purpose for you, you just have to be willing to accept what He has given you and rejoice in the now. As I am learning, He will use you in ways you least expect it so be encouraged in that today.