A New Path

“I will lead the blind by ways they have not known, along unfamiliar paths I will guide them; I will turn darkness into light before them and make the rough places smooth.  These are the things I will do.”

-Isaiah 42:16

Okay, so I have another “walking the dogs revelation” to share with you.  I am sorry to give you two in one week but I have to tell you that when I am walking my dogs, worship music playing in the headphones and the beauty of God’s creation all around me, God has my full attention.  So I get “walking the dogs revelations” just about as often as I walk them.  

Last night I took my dogs on a new path that my husband and father-in-law had just cleared for us by mowing down weeds and moving some equipment that was there.  They smoothed out the ground with the tractor and made a perfect path.  For over five years now my dogs and I have been walking the same comfortable, familiar, and safe path.  We walked some of our usual path last night but when I took the unexpected turn and headed down the new path my dogs were over the top excited.  Their tails were wagging, and, in excitement to see what was before us, they ran ahead of me.  But then they stopped and looked back at me with their heads cocked sideways as if to question, “Are you sure this is the way?”  I called them back to walk next to me, and I guided them home through our new path.  

As we walked, the Holy Spirit spoke to my heart about walking new paths with Him.  He showed me, once again, how I am like my dogs.  When He leads me down paths I haven’t traveled yet, I get excited and run ahead sometimes.  Then I look back at him and ask, “Are you sure this is the way, God?”  But He always assures me that He has gone before me.  He has cleared the path and made the rough places smooth.  If I walk by His side, He will guide me through the new path and shine the light of His presence into the darkness of the unknown.

Are you headed down a new path? I bet most of us are headed down an unfamiliar path in at least one area of our lives right now.  Maybe you are headed into a new season of your life that is looking much different than the last.  That can be scary.  Perhaps you are starting to walk the path of a new relationship and the path before you is exciting but very unfamiliar.  The new paths we are on look different for each of us, whether they consist of new jobs, new places, new friends, or maybe even a new addition to your family.  It is both scary and exciting to walk blindly with Jesus down paths we have not yet known, but how rewarding it will be when we look back and see the intimacy we experienced with the Lord on our journey.  

Lord, thank you for the journey you are taking us on, and thank you that we don’t have to walk the journey alone.  Help me, by the power of your Holy Spirit, to be sensitive to your guidance and to stay by your side.  I know sometimes I get excited and try to run ahead, but by your side is truly where I want to be.  Help me to take it one step at a time, enjoying your company along the way.  I love you, my Lord.  In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.