“The words I spoke to God that midnight are still vivid in my memory:

I am here taking a stand for what I believe is right. But now I am afraid. The people are looking to me for leadership, and if I stand before them without strength and courage, they too will falter . . .

“Almost at once my fears began to pass from me. My uncertainty disappeared. I was ready to face anything. The outer situation remained the same, but God had given me inner calm . . . I knew that God is able to give us the interior resources to face the storms and problems of life.”

from A Testament of Hope: The Essential Writings and Speeches of Martin Luther King, Jr. (J. M. Washington, ed.) [1968, 1996, p. 509]