Today for Wednesday's Walk Down Memory Lane I wanted to share this awesome picture that I borrowed from my blog friend Amy. Isn't it cool? Amy is being led by the Lord to adopt a baby from Ethiopia, and she and her husband feel that God is directing their path and leading them in this direction. I pray that it will all work out well for them. You can read all about it by clicking on the button called,..FILLED WITH PRAISE...On the top right of my sidebar.
Are we on the right path in our lives?????????????
"Thomas saith unto him, Lord, we know not whither thou goest; and how can we know the way? Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me." John 14:5&6
I learned these verses when I was a child, and also a little song that says..."One Way... God said to get to Heaven,...Jesus is the only Way". These verses and this little song have stuck with me all of my life. From a child I have always known that trusting in Jesus was the only way to get to heaven.
But there have been other times in my life when I didn't know what path to take concerning earthly decisions. Many times I felt lost and undecided as to which path to take. I headed down the wrong path many times, because I didn't stop and ask direction from God. I just hurried down the path on my own,...and didn't even give God a chance to direct me. I didn't pray about my decision, I didn't search direction from His word, and I certainly didn't wait on His leading, because I wasn't walking close to Him in those days. And I didn't even ask advice from people who had more experience than I did. And if I was given advice,...most of the time I didn't take it.
I know now that the Lord was never far away from me, and He was always willing to take my hand, stand by my side, and walk down those paths with me. I was just being a stubborn child, running ahead of Him and not acknowledging His presence in my life.
Needless to say, those times in my life were not very happy years. It wasn't all bad,...I did have some happy times, some fleeting joys, and some true blessings that my merciful Lord allowed me. Regardless of my willfulness and my neglect of Him He was always near me, just waiting for me to turn back towards Him and grasp His hand.
After 12 years of struggling on my own I finally did turn around, repent, and ask Jesus to forgive me. And you know what? He wrapped His arms around me like a loving father, and He said,..."I Forgive".
That was 30 years ago! And I have felt His presence in my life ever since. I still rush ahead of Him sometimes, but I hear Him saying,... Slow down my child..."Be still and know that I am God." Psalm 46:10
I don't always know what I should do right away, but these days my husband and I pray together and seek God's guidance. When we know that things line up with God's word and with what we know in our hearts is right,...we proceed through faith.
Even when you are walking close to the Lord, obstacles are still in the way and He just helps us through them with a tight grasp on our hands. A Christian's life is not free of trials and hardships,..but He never leaves us nor forsakes us through those hard times. We find out that He is our peace and our comfort and our strength, and that we can even know true joy in our hearts because of His presence during those hard times.
I know also that we are just humans,...sinful people who are saved by God's grace.
Nobody is perfect. And the best news of all is that He is a forgiving God. I know this first hand. He lets me be me. He lets me be who He created me to be. I don't have to try to be anyone else,..He loves me just the way I am.
So, I look at the picture of the beautiful canopy of trees arching over the path, and I think of myself as a carefree child of God skipping along merrily, singing a little tune. And I picture Jesus smiling at me, walking with me, ahead of me, behind me...taking joy in the fact that I belong to Him, and that I am not ignoring His presence in my life anymore.
I hear Him say to me,..."I am the way, the truth and the life!"
There is such beauty in my life when I follow the Lord!
18 comments:
GREAT post! So beautiful!
You are such a beautiful spirit and soul, Linda! I know the Lord is so pleased with your work here on Earth. He sent you to me to be my friend, and I will forever be thankful for that. This was a wonderful post. I am going to go visit your blog friend now, because you know how much I love adoption!
Awesome post & so beautiful. Thanx for the nice comments left on my blog.
Caroline
What a great post Linda!!!
Your words reminded me of the verse from Psalm 139:5 "You hem me in - behind and before; you have laid your hand upon me." I always picture these hands around me, gently steering me in the right direction like a parent guiding a toddler who has just found their feet.
So good to know how safe and secure we are. Thank you for posting this.
lynette xxx
Thank you so much for this post today! I really needed to read it! The pics are great!
Linda...I really felt like you wrote this post just for me! Thanks for reminding me that I just need to surrender my will to Him and let him have his way! Why do we always try to do things our way anyways?
Fernando and I have committed to praying with each other every night from now on. That might sound simple and it might be something everyone else does, but we've decided to start all over and ask God to give us direction and show us what he wants for us!
Dear Linda, I want to wish you a very Happy EARLY Birthday! You are a sweetie and may you have a great day for your Birthday.
Enjoyed your post and so glad you returned to God! What a mighty God we serve.
Daughters are wonderful and glad you met mine. She has had quite a journey and may she meet her Boaz soon.
Alfred Hitchcock's movie Rear Window with Grace Kelly and Jimmy Stewart is a great movie to see Grace. Maybe that one could be checked out from the Public Library.
Oh Happy day when I no longer have to have Mother Nature visit me. I don't understand why I have to be one of these Ladies who is still having visits at 54!!! Soon, very soon...I pray that I can act my age and not act like a 40 year old. HA.
Blessings to you.
Now back to my break from blogging and paperwork here I come,
d
Amen Linda, Beautiful post. Your words always mean so much to me.
Linda,
Your comment was sweet and very ecouraging to me. I honsetly have never thought about speaking to teenagers about this, but I'm always open to where the Lord is leading me. I will say that I work with lots of college kids in my clerical job. AND I'm very vocal with them about my life, most of the time they just laugh at me. But I know that I have to at least try.
I love what you said in your post.
And yes, my mom is Deanna from Home Haven. She is so spunky! I love your daughter Lynnette and your grandaughter!!
Blessings!
What a beautiful picture! I've been searching for something just like that to use for my blog. It's almost exactly what I pictured!
Your words are so encouraging. I also needed it today as well.
Thanks so much!
Kelci
Beautiful post!
Love your post!
Paula
Such a beautiful post today for Wednesday's Walk down memory lane. I'm so glad I stopped by to visit. I love the photo of the path and your description. I too had many years of following my own path. But how grateful I am that the Lord is gracious, merciful and forgiving. And I desire to stay on His path. It is nice to meet you.
What beautiful pictures and a great lesson to remember.
Hi Linda, This is a beautiful post. And you have a lovely blog. Thank you for sharing truth and beauty in a world that so desperately needs both.
In His love, Glynnis
Hi Linda! I hope you had a great day. I'm just stopping by to let you know that I something for you on my blog. Feel free to come visit me when you have a chance!
Just returning an answer to you! Yes, we both live in Ohio. Kelly and I live about 3 hours away from each other. All of our family lives up in NW Ohio (I'm in SW Ohio) where she is so we go back and visit often.
Post a Comment