Author: Bellissiwarriors

A Known Way

When the apostle Paul writes his second letter to the Corinthians, he describes his present situation using these words: pressed on every side; in constant danger of death; perplexed; suffering; dying; hunted down; troubles; knocked down; weary; we groan and sigh.

This was Paul’s valley of the shadow of death.  Does it sound familiar?  Have you been there?

Maybe you’re passing through your darkest valley right now.  I don’t know how you got here – maybe you’re a bit bewildered about how you got here – but being here is scary.  It’s not safe.  How can you possibly step forward?

We walk by faith and not by sight.

2 Corinthians 5:7

This is what Paul says.  He is confident that because of God, what lies ahead is not what he sees now.  So he can keep going, even though his path is so narrow he’s picking his way along a ledge littered with stones, a yawning crevasse on one side and unmoving rock scraping him raw on the other.

For all of us, each step that we take in faith on that narrow cliff-edge causes our faith to grow.  And as our faith grows, the path widens.  It becomes smoother, easier, lighter.  Our faith is the foundation, the bedrock, the path itself.  It’s what lies beneath when we feel like the rug has been pulled out from underneath us.

Faith is the confident assurance that what we hope for, but do not yet see, will actually happen.  By faith, we believe that God is who He says He is.  If we believe that, then we know that He will do what He says He will do.  That nothing can stop Him from accomplishing His purposes.  That He is more than able to protect what we’ve given to Him for safekeeping.

The only way for us to walk is by faith, even though the path is shrouded in darkness.  Even though it’s unclear how things are going to turn out.  Even though it’s hard to keep putting one foot in front of the other.

The path of faith always leads to hope.  Because God is God.  He can be trusted to keep His promises (Hebrews 10:23).  And He says He will be with us in trouble.  That His plans are not to harm us.  That He will neither fail nor forsake us.

As we trust Him, shuffling our feet forward along that rocky ledge, God proves that He can be trusted, that He will never leave us or abandon us.  We see that God is worthy of our confident assurance.  So our legs stop trembling.  Our steps grow more sure.  Our path grows wider.  And we can declare that something better than what we see now lies ahead.  We will emerge from this valley of darkest shadows into His wonderful light.

“We are pressed on every side by troubles, but we are not crushed.  We are perplexed, but not driven to despair.  We are hunted down, but never abandoned by God.  We get knocked down, but we are not destroyed… That is why we never give up… For our present troubles are small and won’t last very long.  Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever!  So we don’t look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen.”

2 Corinthians 4:8-9, 16-18

The Gate of the Year

And I said to the man who stood at the gate of the year:
“Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown.”
And he replied:
“Go out into the darkness and put your hand into the Hand of God.
That shall be to you better than light and safer than a known way.”

— Minnie Louise Haskins

This excerpt from Haskins’ poem “God Knows” seems a fitting way to begin the new adventure of 2017, and the launch of BellissiWarriors.

Most of the time we think we know what lies ahead, that life will pretty much be as we expect.  So we walk confidently forward, five year plan and to-do list in hand.  Until the news comes.  Until the phone rings.  Until all our carefully arranged expectations are shattered and we are left with broken plans, broken pieces, broken hearts, unsure how to carry on into the new unknown.

This is where we long for light, for security, for insurance.  And it’s where God invites us to walk with Him, confidently trusting Him to guide our steps, to keep us safe, to protect us.  His guidance will never lead us astray, no matter how dark or uncertain the path ahead seems.

Back in the very beginning, before there was any brokenness in the world, God placed a tree in a Garden.  Then He asked Adam and Eve not to eat any of its fruit.  Why?  Wouldn’t life have been so much simpler if He hadn’t?

Maybe the tree was God giving Adam and Eve the opportunity to trust Him.  Its very existence is like God asking, “Do you trust Me?  Do you trust that I have your best interests in mind?  Do you trust me enough to choose My ways over your own desires?”

Satan twisted those questions when he approached Eve.  “Is God trustworthy?  Does He really have your best interests in mind?  Is obeying Him really worth it?”  This led Eve to doubt God and brought brokenness into the world.

The answer to those questions is YES!  God is trustworthy.  God has your best interests in mind.  Obeying Him, choosing His ways over our own desires, really is worth it.

Every circumstance where we are faced with a choice between God’s ways and our own is an invitation to trust God.  Trust grows when it’s stretched, when it’s put to the test and proven.  My daughter likes to randomly shout, “Trust fall!” and collapse onto the person nearest her.  Fortunately, she hasn’t hit the ground yet!  When we shout “Trust fall!” and jump into the unknown, God will catch us.  He will prove Himself time and again and our trust in Him will grow.

James put it another way: “When troubles come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy.  For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow” (1:2-3).

My friends, as we stand on the threshold of the new year, none of us know what lies ahead.  The way is shrouded in uncertainty.  But I am confident of this – God is faithful.  Our way forward is by faith that the One who holds our hand is trustworthy.