Courage, Dear Heart
Curious where I got the name Courage, Dear Heart? It’s actually a quote from The Voyage of the Dawn Treader by C. S. Lewis. In the book, the boat is going through rough seas. In the chaos, Lucy looks up to a beam on the boat and sees a large bird. It cries out in a loud voice and flies away. No one on the ship, except Lucy, hears the bird whisper “Courage, dear heart”, and she knows for sure it is the voice of Aslan. I love this quote so much because I know God will give me the courage to face any situation. Fear keeps me from doing many things. Fear of embarrassment, fear of being wrong, fear of confrontation, fear of rejection. So many times, I’m afraid to speak up because I’m scared of what the outcome may be. Knowing that God is with me has given me more confidence and courage to face those fears. I know he’s also there in the craziness of life when things get overwhelming, like when I had to make the decision to stay at Heritage longer and had no plans for my cats yet. Fully trusting in the Lord in that situation was one of the best things I could have done, and I’ll look back at that as a reminder anytime I feel nervous or overwhelmed. When we're stuck in the crashing waves of life, remember that God is with us.
Narnia has also been such a special story to me, specifically the movies. I had watched them a few times growing up, but once I got to college is when my love for the stories truly blossomed. The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe was my escape when I was feeling sad or overwhelmed. I would always say, “If I could visit any fantasy world, it would be Narnia.” The beauty, magic, flora and fauna, and goodness of (almost) everything there was so comforting, especially when they coincide with the amazing production of the movie. I could honestly probably quote the movie to you! Well, fast forward a few years, and here I am attending orientation for Heritage. Orientation mostly consisted of a history talk and introductions of all the staff. When Kaitlin, the former MSA Coordinator, gave her talk, she concluded by saying, “Go be Lucys”. I was so confused at first because I had no idea what a “Lucy” was. She then continued to explain that Heritage is like Narnia, how we can talk about it all we want, but no one will truly understand it until they come out here and see for themselves... When I heard “Heritage is like Narnia”, it was like time stopped. I got chills, my eyes started tearing up, and I felt the Holy Spirit. For years now I had been wanting to “escape to Narnia,” and here I was. I had found my very own Narnia in rural Georgia. Rereading the quote that I used in my excerpt after that experience also made me realize that maybe God sent me to Heritage so I could grow closer to Him. So that by knowing Him better here, I can know Him better in the “real world”.
