January 31, 2016

One Step At A Time

Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
And lean not on your own understanding;
In all your ways acknowledge Him,
And He shall direct your paths. -- Proverbs 3:5-6

It was a rough time. A loved one’s health crisis hit unexpectedly and overnight the hospital became my home. I never knew what each hour would bring. It was a tough season.

Have you ever been there?

Most of you have. I have a sweet friend gripped with cancer (again) and severe depression. Her husband stands faithfully by her side, devastated by his inability to fix this. Another friend struggles to manage health issues that make each day seem as though she has the flu.

It seems like it is always something. Finances and health issues, family drama and work stress, troubles with children and daily chores that never seem to end. Sometimes it’s difficult to know the point and purpose of it all. We’re just so weary and we don’t understand.

That is when we most need to trust God. He has a plan -- a good plan -- for each of us. He will turn whatever is happening to something good if you just turn it over to Him. His ways are not our ways. We know that. It’s just so hard to let it go and take one step at a time.

But that’s the journey of faith: One step at a time. Frequently God doesn’t lay it all out before us. He simply asks that we trust Him. He’ll reveal the path one step at a time.

It’s not always a pleasant journey. Last month a friend buried her son. This young man was stricken with cancer shortly after he graduated from high school. He fought so hard. She did too. We all expected a miracle. We are grateful he’s no longer is pain and that he is now in heaven with Jesus. His faith was rock solid. But his mother will grieve his loss for the rest of her life. How can we understand that?

We can’t. It circles right back around to faith. We know that God is good. We know that God didn’t will this horrific death for this young man but He did allow it. That’s hard. But we cling to the promises of Jesus, to the resurrection and the certainty that we’ll see this young man again.

Trust in the Lord. He will direct your paths. It’s not for us to understand. It’s for us to believe. One step at a time.