New Paths

I am here at the hospital doing Round Two of four rounds of chemotherapy for Mantle Cell Lymphoma, and it is going well. I expect to be released tomorrow, and will do again in a few weeks. Afterwards will come a stem cell transplant which will take the full month of August (if the chemotherapy is affective, or a clinical trial if it isn't!) And if God wants to heal me meanwhile, then I'll take it! But this is my life right now. I'm not in pain, just tired. And that's good enough.

God has been showing me some things lately that I think are not just for me, and I would like to share them with you as I periodically have time and energy to write. I was praying last week and saw a future path laid out, as though a sidewalk was being built to a road. There were Two-by-four stakes driven into the ground in perfect parallel rows, four feet apart, leading to a road. My impression was that it was a "New Path" to get to the road, which itself would lead to a unknown destination. But then I was concerned. Was this a path God had laid out (and therefore to be followed), or was it a man-made direction, and to be opposed in prayer? It was the early stages of the project. The grass wasn't dug up, and the forms weren't built. Only the location was marked vertically with the 2x4's. Is this you God?

Days later, I was continuing to ask God about it, and He showed me the path again, but as I watched, little wild flowers sprang up on both sides of the path. Most were blue, but some were other colors, and they grew right before my eyes and burst into bloom. So beautiful! But what does it mean, God? While thinking about the flowers just now, Isaiah 35:1-4, 8 came to mind. I will quote it for you out of the NIV- The New International Version:

The desert and parched land will be glad;

the wilderness will rejoice and blossom.

Like the crocus it will burst into bloom;

it will rejoice greatly and shout for joy.

The glory of Lebanon will be given to it,

the splendor of Carmel and Sharon;

They will see the glory of LORD,

the splendor of our God.

Strengthen the feeble hands,

steady the knees that give way;

say to those with fearful hearts,

"Be strong, do not fear;

your God will come,

He will come with vengeance;

with divine retribution

he will come to save you.

Do I have feeble hands right now? You betcha. Do my knees give way? Not yet, but my hip is giving me fits... (I had it x-rayed a few minutes ago.) Do I have a fearful heart? Honestly, at times I do.

Say to those with fearful hearts,

Be strong, do not fear;

Your God will come...

***

And a highway will be there;

it will be called the Way of Holiness.

That's the road I want to be on for sure! The Way of Holiness.

So in answer to to my earlier question, this new path, wherever it leads, IS his doing, and He will provide beauty on the way, This path is HIS doing, it is perfectly straight, and it is a highway of Holiness. And my heart rejoices.

Some of you are contemplating new paths. Proverbs 3:5-6 in the NIV tells us:

Trust in the Lord with all your heart

and lean not on your own understanding

In all your ways acknowledge him,

and he will make your paths straight.

For you, my friends, who are at this point of decision, may God make your paths straight, and provide beauty for the journey.

image by Sunshine https://www.instructables.com/member/sunshiine/ on her excellent article on how to build a sidewalk. Check it out on https://www.instructables.com/Concrete-Side-Walk/