When You Can’t See the Way

When you can’t see the way, will you follow the Lord anyway? It is so much easier to walk with confidence when we know where we are going, when the directions are written clearly, the signs along the way are obvious, and the light is bright to illuminate our path. We are not walking by faith then; we are walking by what we see, and we move boldly forward with the assurance we know all about the road before us and the destination we seek. But what happens when our eyes are blindfolded, and we are called to walk according to our faith in Jesus Christ, by the Word of God, and by the gentle loving voice that calls us forth?
When we can’t see the road before us, but we recognize the voice of the Lord, will we go where He calls? This is real faith. A mostly blind, homeless man with a special walking stick once encouraged me after church to walk by faith. He could not see the way ahead, but he knew where he was going. He was going forward with the Lord. He had more faith without seeing, without knowing where he would live, or how he would get enough to eat, than I did with all my worldly knowledge, my great education, and my material possessions.

Day after day, week after week, the Lord has called me to a rest I have not taken since I began my walk with Him. He has purged me and cleansed me in every area of my life, spiritually, emotionally, and physically, He has led me to a new place, and He has not given me a road map or even a walking stick to know where we are going.

I have lost my husband, my marriage, my comfort zone, the part-time job I thought I had to supply an income, my expectations in an area from which I have been gone for years, and I have no idea whatsoever where to begin with introducing Walk by Faith Ministry to a new community.

And every time my flesh gets ready to find an answer, to make something happen, to get ahead of where I am, the Lord surprises me. He asks me to wait. He asks me to rest. And, placing my flesh under subjection – the same flesh that has for so long tried to orchestrate my life and those around me – I obey. I wait. I rest – with the sneaking suspicion that He is preparing me for something.

By faith, with my head-over-heels-in-love-with-Him passion, I walk on. For one thing is for sure. I do not walk alone. When I can’t see the way, and His voice calls me forward, I know what is greater than any map.

I walk with the Lord.