Bread Crumbs

Bread crumbs.  I’m following bread crumbs, just like Hansel and Gretel.  The bread crumbs I’m following were previously placed on the path by me.  These are not just any crumbs…they are from the Bread of Life.  Each crumb represents a blessing, or an answered prayer, or a mountaintop experience in Christ, or a newly learned nugget of wisdom, or a moment when grace poured over me, or a time when God’s Presence was palpable, or instances when forgiveness brought relief from burdens I should have never brought into my life.  I am so thankful for these small beacons.  They light the path when I cannot see. 

Sometimes the way is well lit and following is no problem.  The path is bright and there is no doubt which way to go, which turn to make, and which answer we need.  Conversely there are other times the path is almost invisible…ALMOST.  These are the times we must navigate by faith, not by sight.  That’s where bread crumbs come in handy.  Each remembrance of God’s faithfulness illuminates the way when it seems God is silent and distant. Presently, I walk a darkened path, even so, I see through eyes of faith that compel me to move forward while considering God’s faithfulness in the past.

He Will Make A Way

I love it when scripture leaps from the page!  Several days ago, God gave John and I Isaiah 43:16-19 as our theme verses for 2016. 

                                ¹⁶ This is what the Lord says—
                                 he who made a way through the sea,
                                    a path through the mighty waters,
                                                ¹⁷ who drew out the chariots and horses,
                                    the army and reinforcements together,
                                and they lay there, never to rise again,
                                  extinguished, snuffed out like a wick:
                                                ¹⁸ “Forget the former things;
                                  do not dwell on the past.
                                                ¹⁹ See, I am doing a new thing!
                                 Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?
                                I am making a way in the wilderness
                                 and streams in the wasteland.

We committed to remembering these words as we face whatever this year holds. But that was a week ago and how quickly I forgot…

Sadly, today  I find myself in what seems like an impossible situation that could very well take me off the treatment that in recent days (through testing) has shown to have decreased the high pressure in my lungs by half—a pressure my lungs have not felt in 17 years.  This issue has been one that has been mounting over the past couple of months and today served as what seems like the last nail in the coffin of this treatment. And yet, today was one of those days that God spoke directly to my heart with great clarity, “I AM.”

I spent the day, when I wasn’t on the phone with various caseworkers, insurance people and pharmacy reps,  in a place that is best described in 2 Corinthians 4:8, “We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair.”  In a way, numb-- kind of incredulous, not understanding why this would be happening when the treatment was working so well...

  

And later this evening, that was the frame of mind I found myself in as I relayed what had happened to my son, Zane.  As I was texting, a song came to mind from the past and I began to sing (rather absent mindedly) the words--

               

                God will make a way

                Where there seems to be no way

                He works in ways we cannot see

                He will make a way for me

Suddenly, I began to listen to those words…where did that come from?...a song imbedded in my memory from years ago.  Gee, the writer was speaking directly to me and my situation.  Where did he get those words that were so soothing to my soul?  As I began to research the song, my breath was literally taken away…the songwriter based this song on…Isaiah 43.  The very scriptures that God had given me to lean on were reiterated in lyrics brought to mind 14 years later.  So with frame of mind in check and heart overflowing, I look forward to seeing “the way He will make”!