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May 04, 2024 06:00am

Trailblazers

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I couldn’t get these thoughts out of my head last night, but I was so tired, and I figured they would slip away while I slept. They didn’t, so I wrote them out when I woke up. I don’t typically like to share things that aren’t pretty and sweet and make me smile…but the truth is, there are plenty of things that just aren’t so pretty and sweet and don’t make me smile. I thought maybe there are others who have found themselves suddenly turned around and looking at the path they are walking on, realizing it looks unrecognizable…maybe not even on the path, but somewhere down in the thickets feeling stuck. So, if that’s you-You aren’t alone in those thickets.

Sometimes, it’s like I’m running a trail race, trucking along on a beautiful trail, feeling good and looking toward the end goal confidently…but I tripped somewhere, fell, got a little banged up and turned around. I got up and kept running the race, but I couldn’t exactly see where the goal was like I could before-the other racers have picked up their pace, and I can’t see clearly through the crowd rushing past me. I can tell I am still running in the right direction, at least, but the path feels different.

Once again, something trips me up. I fall hard, get bruised and scraped. I roll down hills and feel skin get scraped and torn by debris. I gather myself, try to find the direction of the end goal, and start running again. I lost sight of the trail a long time ago. I’m in completely new territory that no one anywhere near me on this race has gone before to blaze the way or guide me through.

I’m sure other people have found their way out of this crazy, uncomfortable area of the woods before, but they did not leave a clear trail behind. I try to run, but I can’t. I try to look for signs of the safest path out. I have to make each move with extreme caution, taking precarious steps over brush and poison ivy, constantly watching my steps and deliberating over the entire path.

It feels like I’m so far from any semblance of the race I started, and I’ve gotten so knocked around already that I am weary and filled with doubt that I am capable of deciphering whether the next steps are the right ones to take or not. Am I even headed in the right direction anymore? My fellow racers up on the clear path on the high ground yell to me directions that have been working for them. They can’t see that my trail is nothing like theirs. The path that began as a beautiful, easy race along a clear, safe path toward a crystal clear goal became a fight to make it through with an unrecognizable goal I search for with a trembling heart and aches from the pain the race has given me so far.

The only salve I have for the wounds is the only salve I actually need. I am not stumbling through the brush by myself. God is right there with me, guiding me through the steps I have to take for myself and carrying me over the parts He knows I don’t have the strength to endure. He is taking me through the path He knows is necessary to reach the goal with the extra strength and wisdom and experience He knew I would need-and I am so grateful I don’t have to stumble through it all alone.

Maybe He’ll even help me leave a trail blazed from our trek, so someone else can see more clearly as they find themselves in that same place. I can trust God to take me through the path, no matter what it brings.

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not rely on your own understanding; in all your ways know Him, and He will make your paths straight.” Proverbs 3:5-6

“And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” Romans 8:28