Look around yourself right now, wherever you are.....what do you see? In most cases, you will see at least one other person, in some cases you will see a crowd of people. Every person you see around you has committed an error at some point in their lives that has "set them back"-even if it's just in their own mind. We are not a perfect creature-and we humans, as a rule make many mistakes in the course of a lifetime. We are always in pursuit of a goal that we hold fixed in our mind-how we get to that goal provides a myriad of choices and paths.
Some of them are not smooth. Some of these paths actually lead to dead end walls that prevent you from even glimpsing your original intent. Some of them are long and arduous, but over time will spit you out at the feet of your dreams (although not in great condition from the trip!) Still others are available which in the beginning didn't look like a good path to get to the goal-but perhaps we chose it because we were electing against the more painful looking path.
Maybe the one you chose was right in God's eyes, but you fear that it will never end up bringing you to the feet of your dreams. Still, it was the right path among the ones you had choices to take, so you are on it now with your dreams still out there somewhere in the fog.
God wants us to know that He appreciates our faith in Him when we are choosing a path to lead us to a goal we have in our life. He will honor that faith with His guidance, protection and the assurance that He wants better things for us than we even know HOW to want for ourselves!
So many times, when we have taken the thorny path that looked like the shortest route to our goal, we will look up and see our dream right there-in huge display in front of us....but we can't get to it on that path because of the wall of thorns that would tear us to bits that lay between us and our goal. When we chose that path, we didn't see that huge wall of thorns-and now it's just too late. So, sadly we turn back and walk the other way feeling like the mistakes we made in taking this rotten path have surely eliminated any chance we ever had of getting to our goal.
But here is the miracle! No matter how you got on the path you are on-and no matter what may lie hidden in the shadows waiting to devour you as the sun sets on your dreams still in the distance-God will rescue you. If you stop, look up and ask Him-you will see that a different path will open up for you and He will guide your feet so that you don't stumble in the darkness. And when the dawning sun once again arises in your life as you're holding onto His hand and walking along this path--you will look up and see something before you that is even greater than that which you had envisioned for yourself!
Remember, it's never too late to ask God for a change of direction. Tell Him what you want and need in your life. He CARES about those things, too! He loves you so much! And even when you have no idea He is there-in your darkest hours.....the ones that leave you wounded and lost before you can even look up to seek Him.....He is there. He is watching as you suffer....and the tears of his broken heart are sliding down his face as He waits for you to call out to Him. He longs to reach down and comfort you-to pick you up and heal your wounds.
His heart breaks for us every day because of our lostness in the Valleys of Darkness in the foothills beneath the Devil's Palace as we are led away into the night by greed and fear (which are the Devil's Handmaidens). He is there beside us in our suffering, even when the pain prevents us from seeing Him. And He is waiting for us, as a mother waits beside her baby who is learning how to walk--as he falls down again and again...waiting for the moment when we will call out to Him for help....like the baby cries out and lifts his arms into the air to be picked up. And just like a mother picks up her baby from the floor where he has fallen, God will pick us up from the place we have stumbled and He will give us rest from the pain of our failed attempts at greatness. And then, when we realize the truth-and when we allow Him to.....He will map out a path of Greatness in our lives for us to follow. And our path then, will never go near to the Devil's Palace again. As for his handmaidens, Greed and Fear.....they may linger on the path to distract us, but if we keep looking ahead to God-we will get to see our lives opening up in a magnificent display of Glory to God that will bring us the ultimate happiness of being in service and in His perfect will.
Just as that little baby who is learning how to walk looks ahead to his mother who is clapping and holding her arms out in laughter and joy for him as he picks up speed and dashes toward her in a straight line on little legs that have barely become stable....we must always look to God as our ultimate goal. To be more like Him, is to live the vision He held in His heart when He made man.....and in that place, we are safe beneath the wings of His perfect Grace.
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