The Crucible

What does it mean to hold on to yourself during a crucible, one of life's biggest tests? Perhaps the Rune of St. Patrick can help out. I don't think you have to be religious to appreciate the strength of these words:

At Tara, in this fateful hour,
I place all heaven with its power
And the sun with its brightness,
And the snow with its whiteness,
And the fire with all the strength it hath,
And the lightning with its rapid wrath,
And the winds with their swiftness along their path,
And the sea with its deepness,
And the rocks with their steepness,
And the earth with its starkness;
All these I place with God's almighty help and grace
Between myself and the powers of darkness.

I first read this in Madeleine L'Engle's A Wrinkle in Time.