Taking That First Step

A few weeks ago I flew to my hometown for the weekend to celebrate my preschool sunday school teacher’s 100th birthday. When the invitation came I immediately felt that it was something that I should make a priority. Little did I know how much it would bless my teacher and how much God would use the weekend away to speak to me. For years I have had in my sights on a place across a symbolic lake that I know God has planned for me to someday reach. The pastor at the church I grew up in spoke on Sunday about the lake in front of the Israelites on their way to the promised land and how God dried it up as soon as they took that step of faith to walk into it. I knew God was asking me to take that first step and trust Him to dry up the land in front of me.

When we arrived at the birthday party my teacher was being wheeled into the backyard, when I reached her I took off my sunglasses, looked into her eyes and asked if she knew who I was. She said “no”, but as soon as I uttered my first name, the recollection came back immediately, and I later had a conversation with her where she recalled with detail some of the things that I did with her when I was 4 years old. I marveled at her memory. Throughout the day she kept me by her side, holding my hand and introducing me to everyone that approached her. I got a glimpse into her life through each person that she interacted with, they all seemed to open up quickly, knowing that she was someone they could be real with, having no fear of judgment.

Clara had some difficult and very painful times in her life. When I asked her what kept her so healthy, she laughed and said “honey, I’m not healthy, my body is breaking down” to which I replied “I mean, just the fact that you’ve made it to 100”. She had a one word response to that, “faith”. I later saw that play out when she appeared sad after we sang Happy Birthday to her and requested that we instead sing a song to her Savior called How Great Thou Art. The beautiful rendition of that song by all of those surrounding her brought a smile to her face. It was clear that at some point in her life she surrendered her desire to have others honor her and bring her happiness for a much greater joy found in having her Savior honored and pleased.

The time with my teacher and the prompting from God during Sunday’s sermon were just what I needed to help me take that step of faith that resulted in dry ground allowing me to keep taking steps forward. Throughout our lives there are several times when we feel like there is a lake in front of us keeping us from going forward. I pray that we can all have the courage to take that first step of faith and allow God to pave the way to continue on. Sometimes just being reminded that He will be faithful to dry up the land before us is enough to get us to dip that toe into the edge of the lake, and see with amazement what God will do.