Sunday, May 17, 2020

GROWING SEEDS: "Much Afraid?"

 
 
A few years ago, I read a neat little book called "Hinds Feet On High Places".  Quirky title for a powerful little book, but it was one of the best books I've ever read.  It was an allegory...meaning, a story meant to reveal a hidden meaning. Each of the characters in the book had names that matched their personalities with the main character being a girl named "Much Afraid".  As I entered into the second chapter of this book, I realized why it sounded so familiar to me..... 

I was the main character. 

From that point on, every time I read the name "Much Afraid", I picked up my pen and marked through it...wrote the name "Liz" above it...and proceeded on.  I read as "Liz" traveled through the meadows...you know, those easy-restful-no stress times in our lives.  And I read as she climbed difficult mountains we all climb, fear of the dark places up ahead and felt the sting of arrows pointed straight at her by the enemy....all while traveling the steep path up the mountain to the high place called Home.  

I also discovered through the journey of Hinds Feet on High Places, that God's faithfulness isn't dependent on our outward circumstances. That Love and Pain go together...at least for awhile.  If you know Love, you must also know Pain.  And the most important thing of all....

“There are no obstacles which our Savior’s love cannot overcome.
The actual conditions and tests permitted by God,
by laying down of our own will and accepting His.
The lessons of accepting and triumphing over evil,
of becoming acquainted with grief, and pain,
and of finding them transformed
into something incomparably precious.”

Hannah Hurnard, Hinds Feet on High Places

These are the discoveries in this book. There are no obstacles which God’s love cannot overcome, and to Him, mountains of difficulty are as easy as an asphalt road.....if we follow the path He chooses for us.

Are you Much Afraid during these crazy uncertain times?  Spoiler Alert: Her new name becomes Grace and Glory.

* A "Hind" is a mature female deer

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