Stopping the Slide

CRACK.

I heard my toe break. Sharp pain raced through my foot as I stumbled. I tried to focus on not dropping the bowl of ice cream I was carrying.

I’d rearranged the living room the day before. And I'd been out of the house most of that summer day and was now heading into the darkened room to turn on the TV and relax with some rocky road. But I forgot things were now moved around, and I walked smack into the wooden base of our sofa.

It was so unexpected.

Have you ever had the experience of waking up, surveying your life and wondering how things got to be like this?  The things you'd carefully arranged years ago have been somehow moved. Other things you thought were firmly in place are now gone. And things you don't remember putting in place - things you never meant to sign on for - are now dominating your landscape.

Yeah, me too. There was a year late in my teenage life when I went off to college, my mother died, our family Hallmark business was sold, and my childhood home was sold too. I came home from my semester away, looked around, and suddenly I didn't recognize my life. I knew why, but still I wondered how it had gotten like this.

It was so unexpected.

I felt like I was slipping. Like my whole family was slipping. Like my life and future were slipping. And for the first time I wasn't so sure I had what it takes to fully overcome the set-back. I wasn't entirely sure how to overcome this set-back.  The carefree confidence I'd always had took a hit, along with my heart.

Then I began to walk with Christ. I could have penned Psalm 94:18-19 at that point:

“When I said, "My foot is slipping," your love, O LORD, supported me.
When anxiety was great within me, your consolation brought joy to my soul.”

If you can relate to wondering how your life got so unrecognizable. Or if you can relate to feeling like something significant is sliding - like you are slipping. Or if you are smarting from the pain of running into obstacles - call out to God in prayer today.

He will lift you up. He will set you back down on solid rock. And he will craft a path for you.

Just felt like maybe someone needed to hear that today.