Paige is living her dream raising four daughters, ages 9 – 17. She also works part time as a pediatric nurse. After her first husband went home to Heaven much too young, she married the man who has been her husband for the last 11 years. To learn more about Paige, visit her blog, Simple Thoughts. Her lovely style and beautiful photos will have you hooked right from the start. You may also follow her on twitter.
I’m a runner. Running has been a part of my daily life for as long as I can remember. The road on which I run is a busy one, complete with all the things you would expect to see on a busy road.
One particular day I was running with my dog while my youngest daughter rode her bike alongside us. We came upon a large amount of broken glass on the sidewalk, much more than you would normally see from just a broken bottle. Something large had broken and left hundreds of tiny pieces of glass. The owner of the house was sitting outside and I (very kindly, I might add) walked up and explained to the young man that there was a huge amount of broken glass…too many for me to pick up with my bare hands. He looked up and saw my little girl & our dog and promised to get right on it. I jogged a few more miles, came back & sure enough all the glass was still there
The next day I once again ran by the house with all the tiny pieces of glass still laying there. Later that evening, I gave my sweet hubby an earful about all the frustration I had towards the negligent home owner and “all the thousands”– of course the amount increased– of pieces of glass. I had quite the lengthy list of potential hazards that could occur. Children walk home from school along this sidewalk every day, for crying out loud.
The next day I ran by the spot and all the glass was gone. Completely picked up. Not a single sliver could be seen. My sweet selfless protective husband had gone back out, after his earful, and cleaned it up for me. Every tiny piece of glass was gone. He had gone before me.
“The LORD himself goes before you and will be with you; He will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.” – Deuteronomy 31.8
Moses is speaking to the Israelites just before they are to enter the Promised Land. Did you catch that? The Promised Land. The Lord wanted to make sure His people, His chosen people, knew that even in their promised land, there would be potential hazards. There would be times where they would need His promise of going before them, tucked within their hearts.
I think of the times in my life when I have been blissfully unaware of the broken glass that lies along the path ahead of me. These shards of glass are not a surprise to Him. They are to me, as inconveniences always are, but not to Him.
He’s not caught off guard.
He never slumbers.
He never sleeps.
Sometimes He removes the broken pieces without me even knowing He was there. Sometimes, however, the broken pieces remain. The test results were positive, the tumor has grown, the husband cheated, the child ran away, the job was given to another. Broken pieces that catch us off guard and remind us how fragile we are and how easily we can be hurt. While we maneuver through a crisis, stumbling & fumbling around situations that threaten to hurt us, He has already been there.
He will continue to be there.
To be honest, I wanted to write this post about two months ago, but I was awaiting my own test results: clear? pre-cancer? cancer?
Anxious & nervous,
fragile & worried,
I couldn’t bring myself to write an encouraging post about His promises.
I wish it weren’t that way. I want to walk it out in my life. Every day. Not just on the days when my run along the busy road is quiet and seemingly free of inconveniences. I want to walk it out in my life on the days when my daily run has dead critters along the road, trash in the grass, honking horns in my ears & of course,
broken glass.
He goes before us
. . . always.
He will never leave us
. . . ever.
Please visit Paige. You will love, love, love her. And I made her put in punctuation for my blog because I am pesky. But on her blog, she just writes free without it and it totally works. So go see her in her element, because it is a beautiful element.
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