from my heart to yours

Over the past many months, I've been fortunate enough to hear from many who have been called to walk this same rocky road Adam and I have come to know. It's not a path you'd ever choose to take. In fact, if there was a warning sign somewhere along the way, providing you with the details you'd soon encounter, I'm quite sure we'd all turn around and walk... run... the other way. But we don't get that opportunity. However, the opportunity we do have is that we can decide how we will walk down that road.

Many of you have shared your own burdens with me. Some reading right now have a very sick child - with odds stacked against him/her. Whether by cancer or some other dreadful disease that you wouldn't wish upon your worst enemy, let alone your son or daughter. I never, in all my life, thought I would know what that felt like. But I do.

Some reading right now face your own illness. A broken relationship with your spouse. Or even the death of someone you love. Anything that threatens to steal your dreams... your quality of life... can spark the kind of tears that come from deep down in your soul. The kind of tears that actually cause your body to tremble and leave you physically exhausted after the last one falls. I never thought that I would know such crying. But I do.

Some reading right now have questions. Why me? When will this be over? What will life look like when it is? Is this really what my life is supposed to be about? What if I never get the opportunity to (fill in the blank)? What do I do now? Where do I go from here? I never thought that I'd have to examine such questions with the level of detail in which I've had to face. But I have.

I know I've heard from some. And I want you to know that I've been blessed by your trust in sharing your own journey with me. But in case your reading this, and we've never "met", I want you to know this is for you, too. This is for everyone who cries for loss... for those who ask the questions that are sometimes impossible to answer... for anyone walking down a road of their own that seems to have more pot-holes than pavement. I understand. In ways only explainable from one broken heart to another. But I also know and understand that whatever has been broken, can be mended. And just as you have been walking this journey with me, I want you to know I'm likewise walking with you. Not physically, though I would if I could! But prayerfully. This week especially. As I praise God with tears of thanksgiving for His mercy, I give those same tears over for you, praying that if you know Him - you'll cling to Him... and if you don't know Him - that you'll find Him.

How you will be able to walk down the path of your life depends on Who is walking beside you. We don't get the smooth road every time. But we do get Him - His comfort, His rest, His strength, His peace, His purpose... and only He can make our paths straight. All we have to do is ask. Then believe.

Trust in the LORD with all thine heart;

and lean not unto thine own understanding.

In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths.

Proverbs 3:5-6

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Simply trusting every day,

Trusting through a stormy way;

Even when my faith is small,

Trusting Jesus, that is all.

Brightly does His Spirit shine

Into this poor heart of mine;

While He leads I cannot fall;

Trusting Jesus, that is all.

Singing if my way is clear,

Praying if the path be drear;

If in danger for Him call;

Trusting Jesus, that is all.

Trusting Him while life shall last,

Trusting Him till earth be past;

Till within the jasper wall,

Trusting Jesus, that is all.

Trusting as the moments fly,

Trusting as the days go by;

Trusting Him whate’er befall,

Trusting Jesus, that is all.

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(hymn excerpt - words Edgar Stites, music Ira Sankey)