"In all your ways, submit to Him and He will make your paths straight." --Proverbs 3:6
At the beginning of June, my husband (Brian) and I went on a vacation. Just the two of us. It was the first time since our honeymoon that we'd been on the beach without our kids. I love family vacations, but there is something about being able to just be still and not have to focus on much of anything. Last year was such a tough year in watching my dad's battle with stomach cancer and then ultimately losing him last July. This vacation was the first time I've truly been able to face my own grief without having someone else to care for. Grief had gotten my attention. Fortunately, God was also able to get my attention. Not that I hadn't been focusing on God much, but I had realized that up until the point of our vacation, I'd struggled to truly hear God. My mind had been so focused on the million other things also going on in my life and in the lives of those I love that I hadn't ever fully been able to just sit and listen for God to speak. Well, my ears were opened and He let His words flow like crazy that week (lots of topics for other times). As I listened to and watched the ocean and processed the entire last year out loud with Brian, I felt a peace...a calmness. I'd wondered how people get through the hard stuff without God because He has truly been the only way I've gotten through anything difficult, especially grief. Right there on Blue Mountain Beach in Santa Rosa, God spoke. It's taken me awhile to write about it because I knew what He wanted me to convey would be long and I doubted that I could put it into perfect words. Basically, I've delayed my obedience and for some reason didn't trust that God would just speak/write for me. So, here goes nothin'.
While on the beach, God presented me with an analogy that makes sense to me and will likely speak to some or all of you reading this post. We've all been somewhere (likely airports or some place of travel) where we are presented with moving sidewalks. We can stand still and allow the sidewalk to get us to where we need to go or we can walk at superspeeds on the moving sidewalk. We can also choose to just walk around it...though we will likely be going in zig-zags around those moving at a slower pace than we prefer...or perhaps we have to dodge out of someone else's way.
Our spiritual journey in life is a lot like a series of moving sidewalks. At the end of these sidewalks, is God. His hand is extended to help us from the sidewalk into eternal life on the other side. Our destination. Our loved ones who have completed the journey are also there (like my Dad). The path to our destination has the option of a moving sidewalk, which is our faith, obedience and trust in God. Each sidewalk is truly a chapter in our lives. Every once in awhile, we are jolted with the end of one sidewalk or one chapter in our lives. We may see it coming and prepare ourselves or the end of it may completely take us by surprise. Either way, it takes us off the path of moving forward. Isn't this what hard times and trials do for us? Big or small, it jolts us. There are several ways we could respond and routes we could take afterward. The way we respond and the routes we take after each jolt completely decide how tough the rest of our journeys (our lives) will be. Let's examine some options we could choose from in response to one sidewalk ending in our journey:
1. We could turn around and get back onto the sidewalk that just ended.
Anyone who has ever tried knows that it is extremely tough to go backwards on these sidewalks. The resistance is so strong and we feel pulled in the opposite direction. It can be painful. We will likely be alone in this and get some pretty crazy looks. We may fall down. In addition to that, we will be going farther away from our destination. Distancing ourselves from God. We will only be taken where we've been...seeing only what's in the past. Never moving forward. Likely we wouldn't seriously do this on a moving sidewalk. It doesn't work. Why should it help us in our spiritual life either? Yet, most of us have tried this option at some point with God, haven't we?
2. We could stay standing off to the side either being stubborn about getting onto the next sidewalk or truly not knowing where we should go next.
We may be confused or mad that we were given such a jolt with the end of that last sidewalk (or chapter). At this point, we may be standing there alone looking for God...looking for our family and friends. We may feel lost and not know which way to go. We may look around in a panic. We are scared to get onto the next sidewalk because we don't want it to end again or feel jolted. Eventually we see our family and our friends on the next sidewalk, moving forward in their journey. We feel left behind while everyone else seems to keep going forward. We may feel like God has abandoned us. In reality, though, He's still there with his hand stretched to us. We may feel like we can't trust God because of the end of that last sidewalk. It didn't go as we planned. God knew all the jolts along the way, though. He designed the journey. So, we blame Him, don't we? We get mad at His design. We get mad at Him. We think we could have designed it better. So maybe after the fear sets in, we just refuse to get back on any sidewalk. We will just stand there and feel sorry for ourselves. Meanwhile, everyone else we know is back on the sidewalk. Isn't this such a miserable place to be? I've been there. Many more times than I'd like to admit. We have free will. When we are in this position it's because we are choosing to be...no matter the reason.
3. We could continue to move forward towards the destination without getting onto the sidewalk.
We may think we know our own way to the destination. We don't need the sidewalk to take us. We likely will still reach our destination, but it will take longer. We may face a lot more obstacles and miss out on a lot of the blessings. We definitely won't be walking in a straight path because along the way there will be someone walking in front of us moving at glacial speeds. We will have to go around them. The flipside is also true. We will be in someone else's way as well. We may even get lost in the crowd or wander around aimlessly for awhile like a lost sheep. We may even follow someone else who we think has it all together only to realize that they too were lost. Now we are realizing that this is tough. Thanks to our free will and our belief that we know what is best for us, we've gone and made the journey way tougher than it was intended to be. We look up from time to time for directions to our destination. We may decide to finally take a look at the map that was given to us to help us find our way. If only there were a map or maybe even a BOOK to help us navigate our way to the destination? Good news. There is. It's the Bible and it's written to help everyone get closer to God and our destination. The thing is...it doesn't do much good if we don't read it. Just like the map wouldn't do the traveler any good without reading it. We remain lost and wandering. Eventually we will find our way to another sidewalk. Maybe we will get on that one...or maybe we'll still think we know the best way. The decision, once again, will determine how hard the journey will be.
4. We get on the next sidewalk and stand still.
This seems like the simple choice. The most logical. Yet, in our spiritual journey, sometimes getting on another sidewalk is the toughest thing to do. It requires so much faith. Faith that despite the last chapter ending, the next sidewalk will provide rest from the aftermath of the jolt...the job loss, the death of a loved one, the end of a relationship...whatever the case may be. Just getting onto that sidewalk is exactly what we need. Standing still, being carried forward in the right direction, brings peace and comfort. Rest for the weary. Burden free as we are literally able to just put our burdens down and not have to carry them ourselves. The sidewalk carries the baggage for us. Heaviness is lifted and we can breathe for a bit. We allow ourselves to be carried until we have the strength to take forward steps ourselves on the sidewalk. We may not be ready to walk on the moving sidewalk, but we are on it and that requires just as much faith. Eventually, we will come to another jolt. We knew it would likely come eventually because we haven't yet reached the destination. Yet, this time, we were better prepared for it. We know what to do now to get back on track. We know we don't want to wander because that's meaningless and hard. We know we don't want to go backwards because who wants to go through that chaos again? The last sidewalk end prepared us for the next one. We are much more likely to get back onto the next sidewalk more readily. Every trial in life prepares us for a future one. God equips us and grows us. As a result, our faith grows. We just have to make the decision to let God carry us for awhile through the process.
5. We get on the next sidewalk and we take steps toward our destination.
Once we trust God and are able to put our faith in Him, we'll find that we seem to be getting closer to Him. We trust that He is our eternal reward for the journey and we look forward to eternity with Him. We take steps that bring us more closely connected to Him and to Heaven. We may spend time reading His word daily, meditating on His word. We pray without ceasing. We believe in the power of prayer and we see that He is always working out things for our good. We trust the journey because we trust the creator of the journey. We know that He is there, hand outstretched because we believe Him even if we can't see the destination yet. We begin to hear his voice...that still small voice or something attention grabbing. We learn to not only pray but to listen to what God has to say (prayer isn't a one-way conversation, but sometimes we don't wait for God to speak). We learn to not only read our Bible but we learn to apply it daily to our own lives. We begin to put action behind our faith. We begin to walk in obedience and do what God asks of us. We respond to our calling. We help others along the journey. Providing for them. Praying for them. Carrying their baggage. Holding their hands. Feeding them not just food but manna from Heaven...the literal word of God. We don't judge their salvation, but we lovingly point them in the direction of the one who does. When you see someone trying to go backwards on the moving sidewalk, wouldn't you point them in the other direction or let them continue to struggle? If you see someone standing off to the side, clearly upset, angry and confused, shouldn't we take a second in our journey to let that person know how it is that we are still making it after that jolt? Shouldn't we tell them it's because of Jesus standing at the end of that sidewalk? Shouldn't we tell them that sometimes we have to be carried and that we all can be carried no matter how long we've been refusing? What about the one who wanders? Doesn't Jesus send out fellow shepherds to help in bringing back the lost sheep? Couldn't we help them understand the map a little better or at least tell them that the map is the best way to get back on track?
This is God's desire...that every one of us reaches our destination and He wants us to trust His path for the journey. He sees the entire journey; we don't. What we do know is that He is there at the end of the journey, arms ready to welcome us. He knows that we will have tough times, but He also knows how those tough times will prepare us for the rest of our journey through this world. He carries us along the journey so long as we accept his help and guidance. He continues to carry us and our baggage of burdens even as we take steps on the moving sidewalk. We aren't reaching our destination by our own merits, but our journey has the potential to help others decide to be carried because they see us walking joyfully while God carries us to our eternal destination.
When you face a new trial, will you run from God? Will you stand still and choose to remain stuck in the trial? Will you try to go your own way, struggling all the while and getting lost? OR will you take a leap of faith and get on the sidewalk and let God carry you? Will you accept His help? Will you accept his grace and His rest? Will you trust Him to take you where you need to be? Where are you right now and what do you need to do? I pray for you all, friends. We all suffer. We all face huge trials and struggles. We all have a God who loves us and wants us to come along with Him for the journey. Trust Him...and trust me when I say I've tried all routes and I can tell you with 100% certainty that with every bump in the journey from now on, I'm getting back on that sidewalk and allowing God to carry me. Friends, this life cannot be navigated without Him. Get on the sidewalk and watch God draw you closer to Him.
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