Trails, Trials, and Trust

I was on an outing the other day with my parents. Now this was not your average everyday go out and walk around the forest preserve. This was not exactly a picture perfect postcard outing, but it did attempt to resemble one. This was a let dad push me in my wheelchair sight seeing flora and fauna excursion. You see, I am currently quite disabled, but it is only temporary thank the Lord! Going anywhere out of the house right now is an ordeal. Trips outside entail an entire process of packing up the wheelchair, assisting me with Wilma (my walker,) getting me into the car and onward to our destination.

When we arrived at the preserve I began to feel total peace, just letting the serenity of the moment soak into my weary being. Dad decided to take me for a stroll around the lake. As he was pushing me into the deep green woods along the trail, I noticed something. Here I was, a relatively young woman with two senior parents and I was being pushed in the chair. "Shouldn't this be the other way around? I thought to myself. The Lord certainly does have a wry sense of humor does he not? As we went further along the trail I could hear my dad getting winded as well as my mother. I implored my dad to find a bench and have a seat before he had a coronary thrombosis.

Dad turned my wheel-chair around and proceeded down a sloping path to the nearest picnic table. Up ahead, the path began to take on a life of it's own, with its dips and angles and a steep drop. Suddenly, Dad was picking up speed and I with my good foot, was attempting to help him steer the chair. I had this vision of myself, tipping over chair and all,and my father, God bless him, turning me upright like a turtle on it's back, off the ground. I could see it now , me arriving at a social function in neck brace and body cast, holding a package of permanent colored markers, and all my friends doodling notes of encouragement all over my plaster clad being. "Tell me again, how did you end up in a body cast if you were being carted around in a wheel- chair?" Thankfully that image disappeared as quickly as it came. Now, as we were moving along closer to our destination at a pretty good clip, my dad shouted to me, "Don't worry I got ya, I won't let you fall!" Oh joy, famous last words!

Those words echoed in my head even as I proceeded to take control of the chair with my only good foot. Hey, if I was gonna fall over in the wheelchair, I had to be the one in control of the fall!
That is when the realization struck me like being hit with a ton of bricks. Our journey with the Lord is somewhat like that. We go along the pathway of our life just fine until we hit a difficult spot in the trail. We try to gain momentum and make it over the hills or carefully navigate the deep trenches and valleys.

We don't want to admit we need help from our heavenly Father, we would rather do it our selves. Rather, we don't trust our Father to take over the navigation process and the steering wheel. This is the where we need our Father's help the most. We need to trust him knowing that he will help us in our journey on the pathways of life. We need to be confident that he is with us and will never let us go. Proverbs speaks of this type of trust in chapter 3:5 "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding." You may you ask, what does type of trust look like?

Have you ever been in a desperate situation with no hope, not knowing where to turn? Perhaps you have experienced the tragic loss of a loved one, or have been delivered a grim report from your doctor, or you may have lost your job. There you are, stuck on the path, in the dark woods, afraid, bewildered and feeling abandoned. Perhaps your calls for help seem to fall on deaf ears. "Is my Father really listening? Doesn't he see my need for his help? At times like these, it seems as if it is all we can do, to blindly grope along life's trails. Yet, it is here in the deep dark desperation of our lives that our Father is here right beside us, holding our hand Psalm 139:10 "Even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast." We all have times that we may feel as if we will slip down into the black pit of our own fears, worries and anxieties. Psalm 56:3-4 David speaks of this type of trust; "But when I am afraid, I will put my trust in you". "I praise God for what he has promised." We trust in God, why should we be afraid?" Are you willing to trust our Father and rejoice in the expectation that he will deliver you from all evil? No matter what it looks like in your natural world he is there, working in the undercover scenes of your life. He is steering you in the direction of his will for his glory. Through your trust in Christ, you can be assured that the Lord will lead you on the right road to arrive at your ultimate destination, the Father's heavenly kingdom. So, perhaps the next time you find yourself lost and swerving on the slippery slopes of life, remember God is in the driver's seat, so sit back and trust that he will take you to the place of his choosing, safe, sound and upright.