How's Your Picture?

My picture for the year is the Lion of courage. I took it of a new sculpture in Buhl Farm Park. I inventoried 2013 so far. How is my lion looking in spring, almost six months into the year? I ventured into a new path of nursing, leaving the roadways to be in a more tactile leadership role. I guess that took a lot of guts to leave the familiar of twenty years.
I'm about to launch my publishing career. The idea scares me. I know I have a good product, but all the technicalities, the financial issues, the sitting down to get it all together try to fell me. That lion roars to tell me I can do this.
I read somewhere, God doesn't give us strength, He is our strength. Jesus is my righteousness. I can do nothing to earn that. Jesus did it all. So, does God give me courage or is He my courage? I know for sure, I need His courage because mine may be foolish, rush ahead, stupidity.
I dig for that courage as I put forth my point of view. It is becoming more unpopular to stand up for a cause if it is different from the politically correct. Funny how abortion is a woman's reproductive rights, but the abortions of girl babies in India and China is a human rights issue. And now, I observe only gays are the salt of the earth. We can't even say what they do is wrong. They are applauded. Even when I write a reasonable explanation, I am called many names, as well as ignorant. I am not surprised by this backlash from people standing for tolerance, as long as it is tolerance for their ideas, only. The marketplace of free ideas is now a dead end place.
I think sometimes, I shouldn't say anything about these topics. Will it affect my novel sales? I strive to be a strong woman. Do I have to bow to popular beliefs? Why is no compromise OK for some, but not for me? Do I have the courage to stand? If I can't write about my beliefs or speak my mind in love, what is my life worth? What kind of strong woman am I?
I saw a picture about Susan B. Anthony. The feminists made her an idol till they found out she was pro-life. Bob Casey, Sr., former governor of Pennsylvania, excluded from speaking at the Democratic Convention because of his pro-life views is another case of silencing opposing ideas. I suppose if I lose followers, I am in good company. Courage in spring, when young men go to war. I must be true to myself. I only ask that people think for themselves. I listen to both views, I have chosen a path less traveled by and that has made all the difference.