How Will You Move Forward Today?

Posted on Apr 25, 2019 Topic : Inspirational/Devotional, Women's Christian Living
Posted by : Rebecca List-Bergeron

I am blessed to live near Steamboat Springs, Colorado. A couple of days ago, I was trekking through the mountains with my favorite hiking partner—my Siberian husky, Keva. The sun was shining, making the snow sparkle with millions of tiny prisms. It was like God had sprinkled the landscape with iridescent glitter. I was marveling in the beauty—and thanking God for allowing me and my boys to live in such a place.

As we continued to hike, my spirits sank a bit. I told the Lord I was discouraged despite the beauty of my surroundings. I felt stuck in my life’s journey, not moving much in any direction. I confessed that I needed to be more thankful and to look to my Savior for direction, especially at a time like this. “I need a word from you,” I prayed.

Suddenly, I looked up and was amazed at what I saw before me. The words “Move Forward” were carved into a snowbank near the trail. My first reaction was laughter. But then I thought a bit more—about my life and my recent prayer. “Wow!” I said. “Thank you, Lord.”

I thought about what I needed to do to move forward, to get unstuck from the place I had been for too long. I sensed the Lord telling me to take one step, even if it was small. You have to start somewhere, I realized. One step will turn into two, and you will feel the progress of moving forward.

I was reminded that each day is a fresh start, a fresh opportunity to move forward into what God has planned for me, into my destiny.

In John chapter 5, Jesus speaks to a man who has been an invalid for 38 years. “Do you want to get well?” Jesus asks. Of course the man wants to be healed. He has been disabled for decades. At first, he must have been dumbfounded by the question.

But I believe Jesus was looking at the man’s heart and asking a much deeper question, the same kind of question he asks us today: “Do you truly want to move forward in your life? Do you want to be free of the burdens that are weighing you down?”

Eventually, Jesus issues a direct command to the ailing man: “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.”

Each of us must decide how we will respond to this command. We must be honest with ourselves. Do we truly want to change our situation? Do we really want to get well?

If so, we need to gather the courage to take the first step.

Let’s move forward.

***

Lord, so many times I stay stuck—even though that is not how I want to be, even though I complain about being stuck in the first place!

And yet you are so gracious to all of us. You love us. You ask us, just as you asked the man in Scripture, “Do you want to get well?”

Lord, my answer is yes! I thank you for allowing me to see those two key words, “Move Forward,” written in the snow. I pray for strength to take those next steps in my life. Steps forward! That is where your destiny for me lies. So that’s the direction I want to go.

I pray we all will see the messages you have for us day by day. Open our eyes.