Negotiating the Dark Path

Sometimes into the darkest hour there comes a beam of light.

Right now our church is reeling from the news that our pastor’s son, just graduated from high school, an athlete and all round great kid, has been diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia. (A.L.L.) It is a time when one realizes how much the church is a family. When one member is struggling, we all hurt.

Lately some friends and I have been studying God’s promises, focusing on guidance. Today’s verse was Isaiah 42:16.
“I will lead the blind by ways they have not known, along unfamiliar paths I will lead them.”

Well, Lord, we sure are in unfamiliar territory here…territory we do not like, with a lot of dark and potentially nasty corners.

The verse goes on:
“I will turn the darkness into light before them and make the rough places smooth. These are the things I will do. I will not forsake them.”

I think of Gwen at our church whose husband Gerry is blind. Week after week you see her gently leading him, clearing obstacles, guiding him around things that could cause him to stumble. And if she is not right there, Gerry waits. He doesn’t move through the crowd on his own. He recognizes the situations where he needs more loving guidance than his cane affords.

We too can move through life on our own for much of the time, with our knowledge of God’s love and provision. But there are times, like now, when we have to wait, wait for God’s loving arm to guide us, totally trusting in His wisdom and divine plan. We are blind and must learn to realize how much we need to lean on Him as we negotiate this unknown terrain.

God, I pray that you will be with Ben and bring restoration to his body and peace to his soul. Be with his parents and brother and sisters. Help them to be able to place their hands in yours and to let you guide them through this dark path of cancer.