All day I’ve been trying to figure out what to blog about today. It’s been buzzing in the background of my brain, distracting me and making me feel a bit lost. Because sometimes, despite my best intentions and my commitment to blogging throughout this season, I just don’t have any idea what I’m going to write about.

I’ve done this practice of blogging during Advent and Lent for enough years to know I can’t force it, and I kind of just have to dog through my day trusting that God will provide what I need. It’s unsettling, but it is an act of faith. And even when I’ve not found something I can write about, I’ve always found SOMETHING to post (maybe sharing a song or a poem, or an image).

As I was about to throw up my hands in defeat and accept that there just wasn’t going to be a post today, I came across this: 

And it settled into my soul. It was the reminder I needed. I thought about a time a little more than two years ago when I considered walking away from my faith entirely. I thought about a time when I was certain my life in congregational ministry was over and done. I thought about all that has happened since.

The thing is – when I felt like walking away, when that temptation rose in me, I knew it wasn’t that I WANTED to walk away from my faith. It was that I was hurting, and I needed time to heal. So I took that time. And the One going the road with me, never gave up on me. God just kept encouraging me forward – one step after another, down the road…I didn’t know what would happen next. I thought I did, but I didn’t.

I’m still here, still in congregational ministry, still in this walk of faith, still in this call on my life, because the One going walking the road with me never gave up on me (even when I wanted to give up on myself).

So that is my encouragement for you today – that the One who walks the road with you hasn’t given up on you, either. And He never will, it’s just not in His nature. So take the next step, whatever it may be. You can’t imagine where the road is leading, that is not for you to know. But God knows. God sees where it all is going. And it will be for your good.

As we continue through Lent, may we know that stumbling and faltering though your steps might be at times, we never go the road alone.