An engulfing cavern loomed below. A fall? Perhaps fatal. My family and I had no idea I’d need to climb steep stairs without handrails to see God’s spectacular creation on this birthday gift’s organized tour. Not yet physically able to hold myself up on stairs, only a few months into neurological rehabilitation from brain surgery, we all hushed as we realized its sudden danger. With limited ability to balance, no sense of where I am in space, always feeling like I was falling or disconnected from my feet, we asked God for courage and help to journey on.
Between a rock and a hard place, moving onward in the scary
The tour guide urged our group along. Nowhere to go, but up. I needed to be held up to go up, moving onward in the line.
I must tell Jesus all of my trials;
I cannot bear these burdens alone.
In my distress He kindly will help me;
He ever loves and cares for His own.
(“I Must Tell Jesus,” Hoffmann, E. A., 1894)
Make haste to help me, O LORD, my salvation! (Ps. 38:22 ESV).
I must tell Jesus!
I cannot bear my burdens alone.
I must tell Jesus!
Jesus can help me, Jesus alone…
my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold (Ps. 18:2b ESV).
Our Helper gives us others to help us, moving onward
A daughter pulling, a daughter pushing, a husband lifting, speaking encouragement, one stair, one step at a time.
Carried. Giving myself up. Can’t stop.
Giving ourselves up to Jesus, moving onward
This is immensely humbling. Unable to move onward without His help. Giving myself up into His perfect care in each moment of my scary trials.
No matter His outcome.
And this?
It’s His kind deliverance, His compassionate rescue from the enemy’s temptations!
On Christ, the solid rock I stand!
I call upon the LORD, who is worthy to be praised, and I am saved from my enemies (Ps. 18:3 ESV).
I must tell Jesus all of my troubles;
He is a kind, compassionate friend.
If I but ask Him, He will deliver,
Make of my troubles quickly an end.
Not dwelling on the past, moving onward through our Helper
Flashes of anger. Injustice, lack of honest transparency by the tour folks, with no warnings for those with disabilities. I must tell Jesus in order to move onward! Help me to forgive, Lord!
Tempted and tried, I need a great Savior,
One who can help my burdens to bear.
I must tell Jesus, I must tell Jesus;
He all my cares and sorrows will share.
Not that I have already reached the goal or am already perfect, but I make every effort to take hold of it because I also have been taken hold of by Christ Jesus…
But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and reaching forward to what is ahead, I pursue as my goal the prize promised by God’s heavenly call in Christ Jesus (Phil. 3:12-14 CSB, emphasis added).
Moving onward into today’s scary? Our Helper’s kind gift in His providence—a calendar page of the same cavern!
I’d saved it in years past, thinking it so beautiful, a photo of God’s spectacular creation…the same exact cavern! Returning home and “suddenly” seeing this forgotten calendar page the next week, God smiled in His steadfast love and compassion for me, a kind gift for His suffering beloved one.
The Scripture?
O how the world to evil allures me!
O how my heart is tempted to sin!
I must tell Jesus, and He will help me
Over the world, the victory to win.
Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest (Mt. 11:28 ESV).
What a victory in Jesus, for all of us who love Him!
Leaning on the everlasting arms, leaning on Jesus!
Hallelujah to our Lord, who is helping us move onward…until the day we literally see Jesus!
Yes, I did take these pictures on that trip. Aren’t they a marvelous display of His glorious creation?!
Here I raise my Ebenezer!
The calendar page now sits just outside the door, visible every time I must leave the house, into every difficult situation as my brain continues to ebb and flow in its healing. Each day of my suffering is a new day of giving myself up to His love and care, for it’s just too difficult to move onward without His help.
A playlist gift to move onward with Jesus as we sing-pray to Jesus for help in our suffering
A flood of sung prayers came to mind during and following the scary. I jotted them down and made a playlist! This playlist has been His ongoing gift to keep me looking to Jesus for help, to tell Jesus everything I’m feeling, and to remind me who He is and what He’s doing in all the temptations suffering can bring.
If this would courage-into you as you seek to move onward, sign up here, and it will come to your email, with my love and prayers.
Click below for other resources of our ministry to suffering Christian women, offered with love and prayer:
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