From the book: Just Enough Light for the Step I'm On >by Stormie Omartian<P>Chapter one: Learning to walk<P>Life is a walk. Each Day we take steps. Our tomorrow is determined by the steps we take today.<P>When a child learns to walk, they don't get very far without falling. They fare much better if they reach up and take their mother's or father's hand and be guided away from danger and get safely where they need to go. But sometimes they quickly head off without any help and fall and hurt themselves or wander off to someplace they weren't supposed to go and get into trouble. Occasionally as parents we allow these things to happen because we want our children to eventually learn to walk without assistance. Of course, we step in and protect them when we see danger. But the goal was always to prepare the children for the day when they would walk without our help. and we are thrilled when we see them experience that joy of freedome for the first time.<P>Learning to walk with our Heavenly Father is somewhat different. He wants us to reach up an take His hand, but He doesn't want us to ever let go. In fact, His desire is that we become more and more dependent upon Him for every step. That's because He wants to take us to places we've never been. To heights we can't even imagine. In order to do that , have to go through the low valleys, treacherous mountains, rough terrain, and narrow paths of life - places where we could easily get lost or off the rrack. and ther is definitely no way we can just head off on our own and expect to arrive safely in the place He has planned for us. and, quite opposite of the way we teach our children, we will never know the joy of true freedom untill we understand we cannot take a single step without His help.<P>But it's up to us to take the first step. If we don't , we will never learn to walk with HIm. We can be so afraid of taking a wrong step that we fail to take any step at all. God didn't part the waters of the Jordan River for the Israelites intil they first put their feet in the water (Joshua 3:15-16). That's because God always requires the first step to be ours. In order to take that first step, we must look into the face of God, reach up to take His hand, and say, "Lead mi in the path You have for me, Lord. From this day on I want to walk with You. I take this step of faith and I trust You to meet me here. Align my heart with Yours."<P>Once you've taken that first step, God will show you other steps to take. He will teach you how to walk in the light of HIs truth, revelation, and love. You'll discover ways to avoid the things that separete you from Him and all He has for you. You'll learn to walk away from fear, depression, condemnation, loneliness, loss, unforgivness, and disappointment. You'll understand what it means to walk through the dark times of your life with the comfort of His presence as your only light.<P>No matter how far away from God you've gone, when you surrender your life to the Lord, a path is carved from where you are to where you are supposed to be, an He puts you on it.<P>This is the miracle of His power. If the path you've been on is crooked, He will make it straight. If you are headed in teh wrong direction, He will turn you around. If you have come to a standstill, He will get you moveing. If you are going around in circles, He will correct your course and cause you to arrive at your destination. The simple act of giving your lif to him will immediatly put you on the correct path and aim you in the right direction.<P>As you take one step at a time, holding God's hand and letting Him lead, He will get you where you need to go.<P>Pastor Jack told me a stroy of a man who prayed, "Lord, i haven't done anything wrong today. I have not made any mistakes, spoken any wrong words, or thought any bad thoughts. I've done everything right so far. But i'm really; going to be depending on You now, Lord, because I'm about to get out of bed."<P>Haven't we all felt like that sometimes? But that's the way God wants us to feel. He doesn't want us to just depend on HIm as a last resort when we have a medical emergency or financial crisis. He wants us to depend on Him for every breath we take. and, quite opposite of the wqay it may seem, tht kind of dependent life is not stifling. It's liberating!<P>Learning to walk with God is a process. And just when we think we have it all figured out, God leads us to a new place where old tricks won't work. In fact, it may seem like we're learning how to walk all over agian. And in a way we are. We enter unfamiliar territory and are soon reminded that, on our own, we stumble. Yet whe we take HIs hand, we fly. God wants us to soar far abouve the limitaions of our lives and ourselves. He wants to take us to a s place we have never been before and can't get to from where we are without His help.<P>If you are at a place in your life wher you feel like you can't take one step without the Lord's help, be glad. He has you where He wants you. If you're wondering, "Have i done something wrong?" the answer is nost likely, "No, you've done something right." God has you on this path, no matter how difficult and impossible it may seem right now, because you are willing to follow Him. He wants to accomplish great things through you that can only come out of a life of faith. He wants your undivided attention because you can't do these things on your own. The path is not the punishment; it's a privilege. It's not a restriction; it's a reward. <P>God loves us so much he allows us to get into difficult places in our lives so we will realize how dependent upon Him we must be.<P>If you have been walking with God for some time and you suddently feel like your life has come to a halt, don't be alarmed. Most likely, God is adjusting your way. Having God correct your course doesn't necessarily mean the other one you were on was incorrect. But it does mean that something needs to change to get you headed in the direction God wants to take you. And it doesn't matter how young or old you are. As long as you are breathing, God will have new paths for you to take and exciting thing for you to do. It's best ot trust His leading. and get on with it. This is what faith is all about.<P>Pator Jack Hayford says, "It's a more certain proposition to follow the Lord, not knowing wher you're going, than to think you know where you're going and you're not following the Lord."<P>When you here God telling you to move in a certain direction, let me give you two words of advice; Do it! Refusing to walk according to God's leading will get you nowhere. Oh, you will arrive someplace all right, but if it is not wher God wants to bless you, it will still be nowhere.<P>It doesn't matter what your situation is at this moment. Wherever you are, God has a path for you that is filled with good things. Draw closer to Him adn you'll find it. Say, "Show me the way in which I should walk and the thing I should do" (Jeremiah 42:3). He will do that and, if you carefully follow as He guides you, He will not let you get off the path. With each step He will reveal more of Himself. "Your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, 'This is the way, walk in it" (Isaiah 30:21). So reach up right now and take God's hand. He promises He won't let you fall.<P>~~~~~Prayer Light~~~~~<BR>Father God, I don't want to take one step without You. I reach up for Your hand and ask that You lead me in Your way. Thank You that no matter where I am right now, even if I have gotten way off course, in this moment as I put my hand in Yours, You will make a path from where I am th wher I need to be. And You will lead me on it. I love that Your grace abounds to me in that way. Keep me on the path You have for me and take me where You wnat me to go. "Cause me to know the way in which I should walk, for I lift up my soul to You" (Psalm 143:8). I know that when I try to run the race without You, I get off course. So i commit this day to walk Your way. Thank You that even if i become weak and stumble, You will help me to rise again and continue on. And though I can't see exactly were I'm going, I'm certain that You can and will enable me to get to where i need to be. Thank You, Lord, that You are teaching me how to walk it total dependence upon You, for i know therein lies my greatest blessing. AMEN<P>~~~~~Footlights~~~~~<BR>O Lord, I know the way of man is not in himself; it is not in man who walks to direct his own steps. (Jeremiah 10:23)<P>You will show me the path of life; In Your presenceis fullness of joy; At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore. (Psalm 16:11)<P>A man's heart plans his way, But the Lord directs his steps. (Proverbs 16:9)<P>The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord, And he delights in his way. (Psalm 37:23)<P>Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, To hte house of the God of Jacob; He will teach us His ways, And we shall walk in His paths. (Micah 4:2)<P><BR>

<B>Having God correct your course doesn't necessarily mean the other one you were on was incorrect. But it does mean that something needs to change to get you headed in the direction God wants to take you. </B><P>Thank you S&L for typing all that out. I finally got my Praying Wife book by Stormie, but am waiting to receive the Just Enough Light book.<P>Today I am challenged to think of things that are happening in my life and look at them in anger as a waste and unnecessary pain or to trust that God is indeed answering my prayers. It is certainly tempting and there is a good arguement going on about a lot of pain being unnecessary and wasteful. It can be an effective tool of the enemy to argue this point. BUT our God is one upon Whom we can rely and He has promised and is faithful to not forget us. Our very lives are full-color illustrations of His delicate and thorough working in our lives and His committment to us. But He is answering our prayers and He is being faithful to us and loving us and we are not going through pain unnecessarily. <P>I do enjoy Stormie's prayers--I've really noticed that from the Power of a Praying Wife" book. <P>I really related to some of what you typed S&L. Letting go of something is really scarey especially if they are your dreams and even the tangible is so difficult to open pry open our clasping hands of. <P>Never learning to walk otherwise? It's pretty scarey to think of the alternative (being crippled). Maybe that fear should motivate me more than the fear of the unknown. I'm a person who's afraid of the sea. The depths of it scare me and the unknown and all those living creatures (so much bigger than me and unseen to boot) hidden in deep dark depths and the sea is so large and powerful. Yet, it was Jesus who calmed the sea with His words. The disciples were terrified too, but he asked them why do you doubt? and He illustrated perfect peace and showed them there was no reason to doubt or fear. A friend of mine repeats a proverb to me, "Patience, little grasshopper". The way that statement comes across to me is with great and abiding affection. And our Father is trustworthy with us and we need to endure sometimes keeping our eyes on Him and trusting. <P>Goodmorning dear Father!! <BR>Morning ladies!<P>HM

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>"Lead me in the path You have for me, Lord. From this day on I want to walk with You. I take this step of faith and I trust You to meet me here. Align my heart with Yours."<HR></BLOCKQUOTE><P> <BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>It doesn't matter what your situation is at this moment. Wherever you are, God has a path for you that is filled with good things. Draw closer to Him adn you'll find it. Say, "Show me the way in which I should walk and the thing I should do" (Jeremiah 42:3). He will do that and, if you carefully follow as He guides you, He will not let you get off the path. With each step He will reveal more of Himself. "Your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, 'This is the way, walk in it" (Isaiah 30:21). So reach up right now and take God's hand. He promises He won't let you fall.<BR><HR></BLOCKQUOTE><P>Thank you S&L. These are issues at the forefront of my life right now. I've been separated from my H for three weeks now. I've spent a lot of time praying, trying to be still, trying to hear what the passage from Isiah promises. Without knowing about the passage in Jeremiah, the topic of many many prayers over many months has been "what should I do?" <P>I'm trying to be open to divine guidance. Am I doing something wrong? After all this time, I am clueless.

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR><B>Learning to walk with God is a process. And just when we think we have it all figured out, God leads us to a new place where old tricks won't work. In fact, it may seem like we're learning how to walk all over again.</B><HR></BLOCKQUOTE><P>Isn't that the truth! Just when I think I can breathe a bit, what I think is <B>resting</B> in the Lord, He pulls the plug and teaches me so much more about what resting actually is. One of the things that Henry Blackaby states in the Experiencing God workbook is that it is like drivng someplace blind and a friend tells you turn left here, now right, etc...you trust your friend to know where he is going and you eventually get to the destination. Just as God told Moses to go and Moses blindly followed without asking where are we going, what are we going to do, how is all this going to come about, I need the whole picture first.... he trusted and went where God led. <P>We do believe God has good things in store for us based on Jer. 29:11. We need to trust Him to hold the map of our life and to turn when He says turn and to keep driving straight ahead until He does tell us to turn.<P>How then, in our journey this time with POWP and digging deeper to remove the dross so that we change and become more changeable in the potter's hand, do you see this time of relearning to walk applicable in your life today?<BR>