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Thursday, September 24, 2015

Decisions, Decisions

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So, how are you at making decisions?
 
I've had to make a lot of decisions over the last few months. And I'm not finding it easy. I've agonized over replacing my old car, deciding what to keep, what to pass on, and what to save, and everything in between. How did Barry always seem to know what to do?
 
How often I've cried out to God to help me over these weeks. I'm learning that making a decision is a little like crossing a river, taking one step at a time.  
 
Decision
I size up the rushing river
 overflowing its banks, full of unknowns,
the other side far away and obscure.
 
Alone now,
with only distant dreamlike memories left,
I wring my hands and pace the shore.
 
What if my foot should slip?
What if misjudgment sweeps me downstream?
What if ignorance pulls me under?
 
I feel the hand of time upon my back,
driving me ever closer to the current’s edge.
-
My heart beats fast.
Tears escape their hiding place.
I cower at the brink.
 
 “Oh dear God, please help me.
I need your grace.”
 
First one foot. Then the other.
And as I take each faltering step,
the Red-Sea-waters part.
Just enough for me to take another step
and then one more.
 
On dry ground
 
Slowly
Slowly
 
All the way to the other side.
 
 
 
 


8 comments:

  1. Oh Sarah,
    You always give me something to think on and pray on. It is never easy to have change in our lives when decisions are required. You are in my prayers. You have journeyed well with your faith to guide you. Thanks for sharing with me and so many others too. Blessings ...

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    1. Thanks, Vi. You're right. Change is never easy, but so glad we have a relationship with One who never changes. Blessings to you . . .

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  2. Decisions, never easy . . . you've captured the fear factor, Sarah. Good work.

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    1. The fear factor. So grateful for Isaiah 41:10: "Fear not, I am with you . . ." Thanks for the encouragement, Jo Ann.

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  3. Loved your poem, Sarah. Every decision really is a step of faith, isn't it? I thought of James 1:5--how we can ask God for wisdom , and He liberally supplies it. But how often we agonize and forget to ask!! With His hand beneath us He will lead us safely to dry ground, as your poem so beautifully expresses. Thanks!

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    1. I've often thought of the verse in James 1:5. Seems I've been doing an awful lot of asking these days. But God never gets tired of us coming to the throne of grace. We are blessed. Appreciate your thoughts, Cheryl . . .

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  4. Thanks for the mental picture of dry ground after the waters part. I hate having to make decisions and know the fear of seeing the water swirling in front of me. I also know you've faced decision making at a whole new level than I've had to. Thanks Sarah for affirming through your suffering that their is dry ground beneath the waters. This is a mental picture I'll remember when faced with my next decision.

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    1. ". . . dry ground beneath the waters." I like the way you expressed that, Gail. You've had many decisions lately, too. Grateful for God's grace . . .

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