When we spoke the last few times, we talked about how we move forward from the circumstances that have caused us to feel lost. We committed to the statement, our circumstances do not dictate truth. We tried to avoid the crutches we use to slow our progress, and we spoke about moving forward together.
Moving forward to the person we are going to be. Forward to the love of Christ. Forward to the person He sees in us.
Away from the shame of our circumstances, our past actions, and the hurt inside.
Even with all of this accomplished—even with our souls determined to find ourselves once more and committed to becoming the people Jesus sees when He looks at us—it doesn’t mean the enemy won’t try to stop us and turn us around. He looks for the pot holes in our journey and tries to use them to turn us around.
Hurt is one.
Pain is another.
Sadness is a large one.
Sadness is the one that slows me this week.
Recently, a woman whom I highly respected and loved passed away. She and I rarely saw each other anymore, but she played a role in my life when I first met my wife. She was a generous person who loved loudly and praised even louder. Although she faced many battles with her health and watched as her husband fought so hard through his own health issues, eventually losing him, she remained a warrior for Christ.
Her faith was strong.
Her heart was stronger.
Through everything.
My favorite memory of her was when I had just asked my wife to marry me. My wife’s father was the pastor of the church and unexpectedly called on me to share our news during the service. After fumbling through the announcement, this champion for Christ yelled out, “It’s about time.”
At the time, I had only been dating my wife for about 10 months, but she knew that we were meant to be together. She was a wonderful person, mother, grandmother, and, most of all, an amazing child of God.
She will be missed.
We have all lost someone like this, or at least suffered loss.
It is the sadness that comes with things like this that stops some of us. These moments become barriers in our way.
What we need to remember is that those who have moved on to heaven are home with our Lord.
They are in a place where there is no more pain.
No more sadness.
No more hurt.
They are where they are meant to be, and it is glorious.
That’s why we keep walking.
We do so to honor those who have moved on. Even when we are sad. Even when we are hurt. Even when we are in pain.
Don’t do what the enemy wants us to do—go back into our old patterns. Turn back to shame. Hide our faces and our hearts.
Instead, continue forward.
In honor of those who have walked the path with you. The ones who are no longer with us and the One who went before us.
I know it is not easy.
For my path has a large pot hole just ahead. One that comes around each year at this time. One that took me a long time to decide for myself that I would continue walking.
One that broke my heart.
But I kept walking.
And tomorrow, in the sadness of this new loss, I will keep walking again.
Not because it doesn’t hurt. Not because I don’t miss those who have gone before me. But because continuing forward is one way I can honor them.
The loss from my past taught me that.
This loss reminds me of it.
So, even when the path hurts…
Let’s keep walking.
Together.
Talk again soon…
