How Can We Have Strength and Courage in Difficult Times?

“If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.” - Matthew 17:20

Sometimes, all we need to do is ask. It’s crazy how simple that is, but how often it’s forgotten. Praying for strength and courage is a good way to start if we want to be strong and courageous. These would also be worthy prayers for not just ourselves but for our family and even for our country and its leaders. Community has many levels, and it seems one of the higher levels is in need of it at this current time.

Pray for wisdom and for God to keep a strong guiding hand over those who are making tough decisions. That all of those decisions would be made in a way that is most glorifying to Him. Pray that He will redeem what has and will be lost. Pray that we can all find strength and courage and be given opportunities to be strong and courageous. Pray that He makes His presence known in powerful ways to those who need it most.

“God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble.” - Psalm 46:1

Strength and courage can feel like very heavy and powerful words at times. Saying that we need to have strength and courage in difficult times often elicits images of the heroes we read about in stories or see in headlines splashed across the news. For me, the thing that comes to mind is the larger-than-life heroes we see in Disney movies like Hercules.

When these are the feats and people associated with “strength” and “courage,” it feels daunting to think about ourselves as possessing those same qualities. However, I want to remind you that being strong can come from starting weak. To be courageous can start from a place of fear, as I’m sure was true of Daniel’s story. We don’t have to start perfect and ready to be strong and courageous.

It can begin when you don’t feel either of those qualities at all. It begins with one step. One day at a time. Paul experiences exactly this:

“But he said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.' Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” - 2 Corinthians 12:9-11

Now, I don’t know if I’ve gotten to the point of delighting in my weaknesses yet. It can be frustrating to know our weaknesses, but I know that God is my strength! Being strong and courageous is not dependent on our own ability to be strong and courageous. It’s about God’s presence in our lives. When we cannot be these things, our faith in God and our reliance on Him provides provision.

What starts as simply getting out of bed in the morning when a loved one has passed turns into a daily routine, which turns into one day realizing that you will be okay. What starts as wariness for the future and being unsure about the state of the world and all that’s to come turns into the understanding that God has control of it all and what’s meant to be will be.

We become strong and courageous by making little attempts to be that way. We must remember that despite this being a difficult time, God specifically placed us all in it. We were made for now, and there’s nothing that could happen that we are not made for. Where God guides, He provides.

Photo Credit: ©GettyImages/Marjan_Apostolovic

Annabelle Gross is a writer passionate about the written word and the Word. She recently graduated from Grove City College, earning a bachelor’s degree in English with a minor in Marketing. She lives in Cleveland, and when she isn’t writing her latest novel, you can find her spending time with family and friends, sailing on Lake Erie, or visiting new and exciting places.