Courage

Our Stake President said something at girls camp this week that struck me. He said, "Courage is not something we are born with, it's not something anyone else can give us. It is something we decide to have."

There are many Christlike virtues that Heavenly Father will help us with. We are told to pray for faith, pray to be filled with charity, and pray to be made clean. These kinds of things we cannot attain on our own, we are too imperfect, too fallen to get where we need to be. We need divine intervention.

I always thought of most virtues that way: you do the best you can and Jesus Christ makes up the difference, carrying you the rest of the way. But during this talk I realized that courage is different. Courage is the true test of this life. We may be right on track with the intentions of our hearts, but without courage to act on our beliefs, it means nothing. President Evans said we have to choose to act in the face of fear again and again and again to become courageous people.

Courage is the true test of this life. It is one of the only things left solely up to us and our agency. We cannot be given courage, it is something we must practice, the muscles of our character. We only need to respond to one question, will my beliefs translate into change?