“The verdict of the ages is that faith means courage. All men of faith have courage. They trust their God. We never apologize for God. Instead we let Him demonstrate, through us, what He can do. We ask Him to remove our fear and direct our attention to what He would have us be. At once, we commence to outgrow fear.” (Page 68, Big Book)
When a situation is genuinely alarming, perilous, or grim, one is going to be frightened. The fear is removed, sometimes altogether, but often by being set aside, decommissioned, deactivated, thrown on the back seat, stuffed in the attic, whilst one gets on with the task at hand. But one can still feel it, humming away, querulous, foreboding. Courage means one does the right thing, and fear is not in control, not that one’s thoroughly jolly about the whole thing.