The Walk

I have just returned from my morning walk. Usually I enjoy going for a walk. I live in a lovely area on a bluff over-looking Lake Huron. The roads are narrow and made of gravel which give a pleasing crunching sound under my feet. There are many large, lush, green trees and thick green undergrowth. A former cottage community under-going change, the houses are quaint and individual in size, shape and personality. In the right seasons, the air is filled with a wide variety of bird song. Big-eyed cotton-tailed rabbits warily munch on the abundant selection of greenery. Once in a while, a flock of wild turkeys, a small herd of deer or a lone coyote can be seen quickly slipping across the roadway from one woodland to the other.

My walks are usually the time I spend in communion with my Heavenly Father. I thank Him for all the beauty that surrounds me and for all the blessings He has given me and then I petition Him for the needs of my loved ones.

Usually I look forward to my walk. But not today.

Today, I had to force myself to go for a walk.

Today, my body aches, my fatigue is high and my soul is low.

Today I feel like the weather – heavy, damp and grey.

When I started out on my walk today, my steps were slower and less sure. It took more will power to keep putting one foot in front of the other. I struggled to get out the minimum amount of prayer requests and thanksgiving.

Then I decided to deliberately concentrate on shifting my focus from how I felt inside to what was going on around me. I noticed that even though we had had a bad month in July for heat and drought and the grass had turned brown, now, all the grass was once again lush and green. As I listened, I could hear chickadees chirping, crickets buzzing and the pleasant sound of crunching gravel under foot. I looked and saw the last of the summer flowers blooming in neighbours’ gardens. I felt the warm, moist wind blowing in from the South.

By the time I was approaching home, my steps, and my soul, had become quicker, lighter and easier. While I still feel tired and aching, my soul and my spirit are feeling less burdened.

I think our Christian “walk” (yes, pun intended) is much like my walk this morning. We often feel aching, tired, burdened, and low in spirit. That is the time when we must decide that we are going to keep on walking in our faith, regardless of how we are feeling. That is when we must choose to keep on putting one footstep of faith in front of the other. That is when we must take our focus off of ourselves and our present circumstances and look instead to the blessings that God has given us.

When we focus on God’s love for us and on what Jesus did for us and when we express gratitude and thankfulness for those blessings, our “walk” in this challenging life can become lighter and easier.

I pray that God will guide your walk today and make your path easier and lighter.

Blessings

Mat 11:29 Take My yoke on you and learn of Me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and you shall find rest to your souls.
Mat 11:30 For My yoke is easy, and My burden is light.

The Toilet Bowl

Mat 21:22 And all things, whatever you shall ask in prayer, believing, you shall receive.

The other day I was cleaning my toilet and as I flushed it and watched the water swirl around the bowl and down the drain, it suddenly struck me how the toilet flushing was a metaphor for what has been going on in my life lately.

Have you ever had times when it feels like difficult circumstances, cares and worries are swirling all around you and you feel like you are getting sucked down a big hole?

It’s not that I am experiencing anything particularly terrible, it’s just that there seems to be a multitude of challenges all going on at once and it feels like I am powerless to do anything about them.

My poor hubby has been suffering from an increase in the frequency, severity and longevity of migraines. I hate seeing my loved ones in pain and I hate not being able to do much to help them. On top of the headaches, he has developed another health concern requiring his having to go through an unpleasant and uncomfortable medical test.

Then there is my dear mother who is preparing for a major life change as she moves clear across the province from her home of almost 30 years. The whole process has been filled with difficulties and frustrations, on top of which she has been in extreme pain. I live 8 hours away and have been unable to help her through this challenging time.

My oldest son and his family have had to give up their home due to financial difficulties and are now crowded in with an in-law. My son works 6 days a week and often over 60 hours a week too so he is only able to spend 1 day a week with his wife and daughter and he is exhausted. I don’t live near them and I don’t have money to help them out.

My youngest son just bought his first home after working very hard to save up for a down-payment. He had only been in his home a few weeks when he fell at work tearing a ligament in his knee. His is in pain, unable to work and the workplace injury insurance company has refused his claim. They live 8 hours away so I can’t be there to help either physically or financially.

I love my family deeply and it hurts me to see them hurting. I am a problem solver and a do-er/helper so I have really been struggling with feeling so absolutely helpless and useless in these circumstances.

That is why, each day I do the only thing I know to do – pray, pray, pray to my Heavenly Father.

I pray to God because I know that He loves me, that He hears me and that He cares about my concerns.

1Jn 5:14 And this is the confidence that we have toward Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.

I pray to God because I know that He is faithful and powerful to bring answer to prayer.

2Th 3:3 But the Lord is faithful, who shall establish you and guard you from the evil.

I pray to God because I trust in Him to work good out of the bad situations.

Gen 50:20 But as for you, you thought evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save a great many people alive.

Rom 8:28 And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.

I pray to God because I know that He loves my loved ones even more than I do and He wants them well and happy.

Joh 3:16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only-begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

I pray because God has said that the prayer of a righteous child of God accomplishes a lot.

Jas 5:16 … The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous one avails much.

I pray because when all is said and done, God, through His son, Christ Jesus, is the only hope for any of the problems of my loved ones, or the entire world.

Without God = no hope…

Eph 2:11,12 Therefore remember that you, the nations, … in the flesh, …  without Christ, … strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world.

But with God = hope…

1Ti 5:5 But she being really a widow, and having been left alone, has set her hope on God and continues in supplications and prayers night and day.

1Pe 1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has regenerated us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,

 

If and when your life feels like it is swirling down the toilet, this is my prayer for you

1Th 5:16 – 18:  May you rejoice evermore. Pray without ceasing. And in everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.

Blessings