"Courage, dear heart."

I’m considering getting these words tattooed somewhere on my body. They come from C.S. Lewis’s “The Voyage of the Dawn Treader,” whispered to Lucy by Aslan when the ship is making its way through the darkness where nightmares become reality. When I read this scene, I was struck by how similar this Dark Island was to my depression. How, just like Lucy, I couldn’t see light anywhere in the darkness. What got me through was the realization that I needed to have some amount of courage. Not some loud, roaring courage, but the whispering kind. The kind that says, “I’ll try again tomorrow.” And as soon as I learned to cling to that small piece of courage, I could see some light. Just like Lucy, I made it out. Should I ever return to that place, I want those words to remind me of the courage that comes from the whispers of my God.