Moving in the Dark

Sometimes navigating our life journey is like trying to move in the dark. It’s not easy to move when you cannot see the way ahead. It can be downright scary. But the truth is that none of us knows what is on the path ahead of us. We walk by faith much more than we walk by sight.

What’s up ahead? What’s around that dark corner? What’s across the path? How many paths do we face and how do we chose?

Isaiah 42:16 is a comfort to those of us trying to find our way in the dark.

I will lead the blind by ways they have not known, along unfamiliar paths I will guide them; 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.

That is a promise we can hang on to when we’re trying to move in the dark. And finally, I love the hope found in these words of George MacDonald.

She was rather melancholy, but hoped as much as she could, and when she could not hope did not stand still, but walked on in the dark. I think when the sun rises upon them, some people will be astonished to find how far they have gotten in the dark.

– George MacDonald

I am waiting in the dark for a kidney transplant. I don’t know when, or if, it will happen. I don’t know if a matching kidney will be found. I don’t know how well I will tolerate the surgery. I have idea what lies ahead for me, and when I let myself dwell on it, I experience nothing but darkness. I can stand still, paralyzed by fear, or I can walk on in the dark, full of hope, full of trust in the God who guides us through dark paths.