The Book of Common Courage: Prayers and Poems to Find Strength in Small Moments

by K.J. Ramsey

Courage isn’t the opposite of fear. Courage is the practice of trusting we have a Good Shepherd who always cares—even when vulnerability is shouting otherwise.5

Harm and hurt can make old ways of worship sting like open wounds.

Christ emptied himself and became as human as you and me so every part of our humanity could be lived in his presence. Emptiness precedes presence. And courage is the practice of coming to the empty space where heart and mind struggle to meet, expecting to encounter the Good Shepherd emptying himself and embracing us even still.

You are a person, not a performance.

He seeks out the struggling, not the strong. This is a flock where you do not have to fight to be found.

Trauma pierces us. But there is nothing that trauma has severed that God is not presently holding together. There is no part of you that is beyond Christ’s care. He is patient, and he is present. Christ is holding us together by the power of his Spirit, wrapping scarred hands securely around the most shattered pieces of our stories, carrying them with care because he chose to be shattered first.

For your resurrection reminds us that suffering can shift us into a better story.

Be gentle toward all that remains unhealed in you. The space between today’s hurt and tomorrow’s healing is sacred ground.

There is a friend within all that is unfinished.

May you refuse to do battle against the parts of yourself that need love the most.

This one cuts deeply but also brings light and healing to my pain

Confirm that in leaving people and places, we have not left your blessing behind. It follows us like the rain of tears down our cheeks.

Amen