Fear demoralizes, immobilizes and defeats a person. Many people live in fear these days. Yet there is a way to face the future with courage, peace and hope.

When Lucy Pevensie journeyed with her brother, cousin, and Prince Caspian aboard the ship the Dawn Treader, she became frightened when the ship got stuck at the Dark Island where their worst fears were realized.

As the darkness increased, and the men pulled at the oars frantically to leave the island, someone cried out, “We will never get out!”

“Lucy leant her head on the edge of the fighting top and whispered, ‘Aslan, Aslan, if ever you loved us at all, send us help now.’ The darkness did not grow any less, but she began to feel a little — a very, very little– better….”

Then a bright light shines from above on the ship. At its center is an albatross. They follow the direction that the bird leads them.

“Drinian steered after it not doubting that it offered good guidance. But no one except Lucy knew that as it circled the mast it had whispered to her, ‘Courage, dear heart!’, and the voice, she felt sure, was Aslan’s.”

Voyage of the Dawn Treader, CS Lewis

          Courage, dear heart.