Follow

When the Lady asked me to write a post on here, I immediately went to the Lord in prayer. What would He have me say? Was I even supposed to say anything? When I asked Him these questions He answered with one word: follow. Follow? What does that mean, I thought. He took me to Matthew 26 (which coincidentally was were my last post was based) and gave me some deeper insight. In verses 35 through 46 we see Jesus at His most raw moment. He is crying out to the Lord and filled with sorrow. He doesn't really want to suffer on the cross, but He is willing, if it's His Father's will. All the while Jesus is crying out to the Lord, His closest friends are asleep. They are not there for Him at His moment of need. And yet, regardless of the scary future, or even His friends lack of presence, Jesus followed.

I stopped reading and just sat in silence. I still was a little blurry as to what this had to do with anything, so I just sat on the epiphany for a couple of days. This morning God explained the rest. He took me to Psalm 23 (which is the Word for my year) and had me slowly read it verse by verse. In verse 3 it says, "He leads me in paths of righteousness for His name's sake." This verse made sense to me. He showed us a life through Jesus, (leading us) that we are to follow and obey so that He may get the glory. I understood that. But then verse 4 blew my mind. It says, "Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me." After reading this verse, I had to ask the question, why was I walking through the valley of the shadow of death? Then the Lord showed me, the valley of the shadow of death is part of the path of righteousness. WHAT?!? All of a sudden, though, it makes sense. It says, "Even though I walk... I WILL FEAR NO EVIL, FOR YOU ARE WITH ME." His rod and staff comforts us, because He is the one who led us into the valley, FOR HIS NAMES SAKE!

Forgive me for the capitals of excitement. Maybe you have already come to this conclusion and this is nothing new for you. But this was a very new idea for me, this truly blew my mind. I say all of this to ask, who are you following? Maybe life is easy for you and everything is going just peachy, might I suggest, then, that you aren't following the One? I don't know where you are. I know for me this past few weeks have been the valley. I would have liked to have blamed the devil and just moved on, but God has shown me different. He leads me through fire, that He may recieve glory. Well praise be to God! I'm comforted to know (and be reminded) that He is in control and leading my life. If your going through a valley, keep your eyes on Him. He not only will lead you in to it, but He will lead you out of it.