Many years ago, our church used to do a New Year's Eve celebration at the local college in the old gym. It was one of those gyms where you pulled out the bleachers to sit on - the old rickety wooden kind. It was always my "job" to decorate - obviously we were desperate to use me to decorate since I have NO sense of that sort of thing. Since I have a fear of heights, I especially hated the part that required me to climb to the very top bleacher and reach as high as I could (at 5 feet 2 inches, that wasn't all that high) and tape up the streamers or balloons. Still, I would obediently climb up there and try to still my heart and nerves as I added color to an otherwise boring dull gym. I was "doing it for the Lord!"
In my dream, I was smack dab in the middle of decorating for one of our New Year's celebrations and as usual, I was climbing to the top of those bleachers. For some reason they seemed even more rickety than before! Just as I climbed to the very top and reached to start decorating, the entire bleacher folded flat. It just collapsed! I sort of "rode" the boards down and I wasn't hurt, but you can imagine my heart was pounding like the lead drum in a marching band! Then I woke up.
Immediately I felt the Lord speak to my heart what it all meant. All my "works" that I had done to try and please Him were like those bleachers...rickety and scary and bound to come tumbling down. Instead He gave me a picture of what He really wanted from me. I could see my feet - and His - on a path. The path wasn't huge and I really couldn't see farther than a few steps ahead. Let's be honest - I could only see the path for the next step I would take, and sometimes only where I was currently standing!
The path wasn't wide or steep, but there was a slight incline. I knew it would take me higher, but it wasn't like the climb I took on those weak wooden bleachers. This path was steady and sure. For some reason, I completely understood what I was seeing again.
God wasn't calling me to try and build some great, high, rickety structure...He was simply calling me to walk with Him one step at a time. Most of the time I couldn't see farther than the next step I was to take and I certainly had no idea where we were headed - but it wasn't scary. I didn't have to be afraid. All I had to do was follow Him, one step at a time.
I look back on where that "path" has taken me over the past 20 years and I am amazed. Some places I probably would have chosen not to go; but on the other side, I can see why we traveled through that area.
I am not where I ever imagined I'd be...that's not a bad thing, by the way. I'm just now starting to do some of the things I dreamed of doing all those years ago - this blog being one of them. Some things I have yet to see. I almost never get to see very far ahead on the path. I wish I could say I'm always patient with that part, but I'm learning. I do know that He has never left me alone on the path.
Not sure why that dream came to mind today...maybe someone reading this needed to hear again that God has a plan for their life. He will walk you through it one step at a time. Maybe it was simply to remind me not to be afraid as I stand on this path and can't really see the next step for me and my family. For whatever reason this dream came back to mind, I do know this one thing. We never walk alone....and I don't have to make things happen myself by "climbing" some ladder, or bleacher, of success. Those things collapse, but Jesus never fails.
(For those who read original post and caught the typo, I apologize!!! I'm guessing you caught my intended meaning because only my husband pointed out my mistake!!)
Psalm 32:8
I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go;
I will counsel you with my loving eye on you.
Isaiah 48:17
And now, the Master, God, sends me and his Spirit
with this Message from God,
your Redeemer, The Holy of Israel:
"I am God, your God,
who teaches you how to live right and well.
I show you what to do, where to go.
1 comment:
Donna, thank you so much for posting this today. It is great confirmation for what God is solidifying in my heart at this time. I can always find His voice through your writings. Thanks again.
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