Everyone's watching. If I fail, they all fall.

Courage sounds like the absence of fear, so being afraid feels like proof you aren't ready. Joshua was afraid — he was told three times not to be, which is not something you say to a man who is fine. He stepped into the river before it parted. You are not being asked for more than that.

The conversation

The child: “Daddy God, everyone's watching. If I fail, they all fall.”

God: “Joshua knew that weight. Moses died, and a nation turned to him.”

The child: “What did You tell him?”

God: “Be not afraid. I never said don't feel it.”

God: “I said it three times. That's how big it was.”

The child: “But Joshua was a warrior. I'm not.”

God: “He was a servant first, for years.”

God: “Courage isn't the absence of fear. It's moving inside it.”

The child: “So the river parted, then he walked?”

God: “The other way round. He stepped first.”

The child: “And if I step and nothing happens?”

God: “'I will not fail thee.' I never have.”

God: “The water moves when the foot goes in. Not before.”

The child: “Then I'll step in. Still scared, but I'll step.”

God: “I'm already in the water.”

"Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the LORD thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest." Joshua 1:9, KJV