It’s been quite a week. 

I mentioned sailing … and sometimes we have to sail through storms.

Sometimes visibility is low, if you know what I’m saying.

Late Wednesday night I lay in bed. Sleep wouldn’t come. So many unknowns. I turned over, faced the other way, adjusted my pillow, closed my eyes. There were just as many unknowns when I faced that direction.

A lot of what concerned me was waiting, looking again at the phone, worried for a friend. Waiting. Waiting. I closed my eyes.

My phone buzzed.

I quickly flipped over and looked at the lit screen. Not who I’d expected, but another friend. A lifelong one. Out of the blue, late at night, with no greeting or opening line, with no idea in the least what I was concerned with, there was the picture with the following text:

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Today I followed [my husband] home from our campsite. As we exited the campsite we had 2 choices — turn to the right or turn to the left. Turning left would take us on a smooth paved route (the familiar route I took to the campsite). Turning right would mean driving on gravel for 5 miles (a narrow gravel road with a steep cliff on one side).

He knows I don’t like driving on gravel. I don’t like dust & I don’t like rocks chipping away at my car. But he turned right anyway — because his love of nature & fondness of roads less traveled were his guide.

So I followed him on a path I wouldn’t have chosen, but I trusted him anyway. Trusted him to set the pace & trusted him to keep an eye out for oncoming traffic. Trusted him to wait for me even if I lagged behind and drove slower than he would have liked. We twisted and turned on that windy road.

If I followed him too closely, his dust cloud was too thick & I couldn’t see where I was going. If I fell too far behind I could lose sight of him as he twisted & turned on the windy road. As I watched him & trusted him & followed him I realized this is what submission looks like. Following and trusting even when the road is covered in a hazy cloud of dust. Following and trusting even when I find myself on an unfamiliar road. Following & trusting even when I seem to be going in the exact opposite direction I would have chosen. Following & trusting & seeing beauty around every corner–the mountains, the cliffs, the rivers, the streams, the forests.

The quiet solitude of those country roads soothed my soul & gave me opportunity to pray & feel peace. And with my eyes fixed ahead, I just kept following him as he led me home.

I gulped up these words, so parched for their truth, and so grateful for a God who is good (and powerful!) enough to send His truth through a text.

I thought of the dusty road ahead, of my good and perfect Guide, then closed my eyes and drifted peacefully off to sleep.

{In case you’re traveling this road too. May my friend’s words encourage your heart. Thank you for reading.}

 

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