One step at a time

If you are like me (and the odds are you might be) at the first sign of trouble you start to look for an exit. Fight or flight instincts are strong. I am a fighter, but only after I can’t find a way out. My instinct is to try to avoid problems. But… some problems are unavoidable. We can pray and beg for a way out, but it has been my hard-fought experience that the only way through most situations is straight down the middle.

Straight into the mud, muck, and ugliness, that is the only way out. If you try to skirt the problem, you can end up in a worse situation. Go forward into the darkness and pray for God to light your feet. That is the only solution I have found. At some point the journey will end, and the light of God will grow ever greater.

It sounds like it takes courage and perseverance to do this but, it only takes enough courage to take the first step. Then the next day a tiny bit of courage to take another step. By the time you are in the thick of it your tiny bits of courage have brought you that far. The by-product of these daily choices is perseverance. It is not something you have at the beginning of a journey, but it is built in you by the end.

In this way we can get through some very dark days, just one step at a time. The rewards of hardship are not always great material blessings, sometimes it is simply perseverance and wisdom.

In our saviour we have an example of ultimate suffering. God so loved us that he not only acknowledges our sorrows, but he came and participated in them. How rich an idea that is! Just let your mind dwell on that.

The next time you feel overwhelmed by your path reach to Jesus, our saviour. He truly does understand and will give you comfort.

Psalm 119: 104-105  I gain understanding from your precepts;
therefore I hate every wrong path.
Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path.