“You know when I sit down and when I rise up; You understand my thought from afar. You scrutinise my path and my lying down, And are intimately acquainted with all my ways. My frame was not hidden from You, When I was made in secret, And skillfully wrought in the depths of the earth; Your eyes have seen my unformed substance; And in Your book were all written The days that were ordained for me, When as yet there was not one of them.” Psalm 139
Recently I went to a 40+year reunion. It was to celebrate , reunite and refresh old friendships that were made when I first got saved almost 42 years ago. Lots of memories resurfaced for me from that time , what kind of life I stepped out of to what kind of life I stepped into. There was a clear line in the sand moment of acceptance of a Jesus as my Saviour and a choice to walk with him leading and me following, here I found some incredible friends and family to walk with who are still with me today. But I also found that all those other family and friends bring so much beauty and love and value to my life, whatever their choices and direction in life.
When we worked at Sherwood in the 80’s I walked in the wonderful faithfulness of Gods provision. He met every need and more for all the years we were there. I loved community living.
My life in God did not start with the line in the sand. All my life he has been faithful to me, even in the dark times when I look back now I find him there. There we many times in my life the direction I took was not going to end well but there were also many times it was joyous and good. I think life is a bit like one of those mazes that you put your pencil on and trace it to find the right path to the end. Sure you will hit some dead ends and maybe be stuck there for a bit. But then you eventually turn and go back over a bit of old ground and continue in the path. The trick is to try and do this with your pencil still connected to the path. It’s ok to lift it off but to continue you have to reconnect where you left off. It’s not over till you get to the end.
Through the many highs and lows of my life I can see how Jesus has kept me on the path. I might look at a line in the sand and think that’s where it started but he sees the whole maze, it started before I was born. My advice, stay in the path and stay connected.
Pam Semmens
