What Lies Around the Corner

A couple of weeks ago I posted part of my testimony, and I promised to share with you a "picture" Jesus gave me. I'm making good on that promise now.


I'm a very visual person, so God often uses images to teach me. Scenes play out in my head, and through them I come to understand a bit more about my adorable Lord or His kingdom. One of these mini-motivational-mind-movies came to me when I was in college. This is what I saw in my head:


I was walking down a sidewalk, and Jesus was walking beside me, holding my hand. It reminded me of the secure feeling I had as a little girl when a "big person" would take my tiny hand in his strong one and escort me down the street. Safe. Protected. I knew He would take care of me.


Then I looked ahead and noticed we were approaching a corner. I couldn't see anything around it, and for some reason I became afraid. Not knowing what the future held was a scary feeling. Just as I considered turning back, I looked up into His face. He was smiling down at me, and a look of assurance mingled with delight played in His eyes. I smiled back. It didn't matter that I had no clue what lay around the corner. He knew! And that was enough.


This picture has been a comfort to me through many storms in my life. I remembered it again last week. On July 7, my 20-year-old son, Luke, was in London when the subway and bus bombs exploded. Even before I heard definite news about him, I sensed God's peace and comfort. Jesus holds his hand, too. Later I learned his group had tried to board a subway train only two stops away from one of the attacks just as officials shut it down "for emergency reasons." The bus bombing occurred a few blocks from his hotel. He never saw or heard anything.


Life can be scary. It's frightening to launch out into the unknown or let go of people we love. But we can carry a picture in our minds. Jesus walks along the sidewalk of life with us. He holds our hand. We can look into His face and see calm assurance and a twinkle of delight. He knows what lies ahead, so we don't have to. All we have to do is hold on to that strong hand and keep walking.


I hope this "picture" encourages you as much as it does me. If you're walking on a particularly rough part of the path right now, please know you can ask any of us to pray with you. We'd be honored.


Enjoy the journey!