To Walk In Your Steps

There was a time we longed to know more about our loved one, wasn’t there?  When we were dating, we wanted to know everything there was to know about our beloved’s life… from childhood to adulthood… who they were in the depth of their heart, and what made them who they are today.  We often come to know each other so thoroughly that we can finish their sentences!  We know how they think, and why they do what they do.  And we eagerly follow their leading.  How well I remember following my late husband in the barn, learning from him … following so close he called me his little shadow!  

I hope we never lose sight of that longing to know our loved one on a deeper level because life continually changes, and so do we.  And that got me to thinking … and wondering … how well do I know my Lord?  Oh, I know Him … I love Him … and I know His word.  But, do I know Him deeply, as well as I knew my husband?  I know I fall short and cannot live up to His expectations.  But I also sense a need in my heart to continually study the depth of who God is; and, in that way, learn more about Him and His will, His path, His leading in my life. 

In Deuteronomy 6:5, we read, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.”  That’s not always easy.  It’s a challenge.  There is so much in life that clamors for our time and attention.  Yet, as the psalmist David expressed his heart in Psalm 25:4, I find it echoes my heart-felt longings:  “Show me your ways, O Lord, teach me your paths.”  While he also wrote in Psalm 63:1-2, “O God, you are my God; I earnestly search for you.  My soul thirsts for you…”  

Many years later, the prophet Jeremiah heard Yahweh/Jehovah God speak to him with a message for the people of Israel on returning to their homeland from captivity in Babylon.  “‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, “‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.  Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you.  You will seek me and find me when you search for me with all your heart.’”  Jeremiah 29:11-13 NIV)  And that’s the heart I want while seeking Him in my life.

The day I wrote this blog in 2015, my stepmother and I spoke on the phone.  As we reminisced about my father who had died that April, she shared a story about my oldest brother's daughter.  At age 3, she tagged along behind her grandfather on his way out to the garden.  “What are you doing Pop-Pop?” she asked.  “Picking the Japanese beetles off the tomato plants and putting them in this bucket,” he replied.  Since she wanted to go in the garden with her beloved grandfather, he told her to follow where he put his feet so she wouldn’t get her sneakers dirty from the mud.  Out of love and understanding for his little granddaughter, Pop-Pop then took a shorter stride.  Following her leader, she stretched her little 3-year-old legs just far enough for her feet to land in Pop-Pop’s big footsteps as he led the way down the path.

Under Pop-Pop’s guidance, she picked beetles off the leaves and dropped them into the bucket. Beaming with joy, she exclaimed to Granny, “I pick Napanese beetles like Pop-Pop!”  She had literally followed in her grandfather’s footsteps!  And isn’t that what the Lord asks us to do as we seek Him?  That we would love Him enough to follow in His steps, on His path, as He guides our way!

To Walk in Your Steps

Linda A. Roorda

My soul is thirsting for truth from Your word,

My daily strength on this path of life.

A joy with grace and merciful peace

When in Your will my soul finds its rest.

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Teach me Your ways, to walk in Your steps

Let Your light shine as it guides my path,

May I be used to reach seeking souls

Others who need the touch of Your hand.

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May all my words echo Your wisdom

And may the thoughts within my heart's depth

Reveal the treasures I’ve kept and pondered

That all I do will glorify You.

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So I’ll rise above the fray of this world

To place my trust in Jesus my Lord

And even though some days overwhelm

I rejoice within His absolute love.

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For gracious is He who pursues my heart

Just as I am, He embraces me.

To know His truth with mercy sets free

Blessed assurance and peace in His will.

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