My journey is tough but the end is glorious!

Everyone talks about throwback Thursday and people take time to just look back at some pieces of their lives in times passed. It is common to see people focus on the fun, the good and the pleasant times but rarely will they focus on the lows. Those times where lessons were learnt, tears were shed, pain was rife and characters were molded. Today, my throwback Thursday is all about the lows in our past and the present and future glory. They say that life in a journey and that a journey of a thousand miles starts with a step. Every step inches you closer to your destination. It means that without that step, you won't move. So everything about the start and the end of the journey is in every step you take. In my journey, I know that every step has counted, even the missteps. There have been lessons learnt, tears shed, pain endured, character molded but above all I have learnt to totally depend on the one who gives me the strength to lift up a leg and make that step. Today I realize that he has taken my lows, my shame, my guilt, my pain, my pride and wiped away every tear replacing all that with a covering of His glory. Let us reflect on this beautiful piece from the bible for a minute.

Isaiah 53: 3-10

He is despised and rejected by men, A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.

And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him. Surely He has borne our grief sand carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed Him stricken, Smitten by God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, every one, to his own way; and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed and He was afflicted, Yet He opened not His mouth; He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, So He opened not His mouth. He was taken from prison and from judgment, and who will declare His generation? For He was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgressions of my people He was stricken. And they[a] made His grave with the wicked—but with the rich at His death, Because He had done no violence, nor was any deceit in His mouth. Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise Him; He has put Him to grief. When You make His soul an offering for sin, He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days, And the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His hand.

In my throwback, as I choose to focus on the lows that Jesus Christ has clothed with glory, I learn to appreciate every shame I had to face. There were points when there needed to be the midnight before the dawn could come. Imagine if your days were to be all daylight and no darkness. In our present age, when we all seem to need more time just running around and trying to make some extra cash people would be collapsing. We all need the dark when we can retrieve and rest. It is the same case with the journey of life. There are rocky paths, potholes, the wilderness, heat, cold and many of those hurdles that really make the journey tough. The right focus will tell you there is a destination you have to reach which means you've got to go on. Many times the focus is what leads to mistakes and missteps. In my experience, when the focus is so much on the destination then the end will justify the means which means it does not matter what means I take as long as I get to the end. 

Today I want to introduce you to the right focus in the journey, God the almighty, the author and finisher of our faith. In the scripture we just read, we are informed of the many things Jesus Christ bore just so we could be approved. Just so we could reach the end of this journey. Just so we, when things get tough, could look upon him and see all he carried for our success in the journey. One time Abraham was asked by God to go to Mt. Moriah to offer his son of promise as a sacrifice to God. The journey to Mt. Moriah totally depended on his ability to listen to God every step of the way which means he needed to have the right focus. He gets to a point and tells the servants to stay behind. If they accompanied him and the lad they would have stopped him from obeying God. It is the same with us. For us to be covered with the latter glory which the bible says will be greater than the glory of the former house (Haggai 2:9), we need to focus on God and be good listeners. When he says "let go" it s time to let go, no questions no buts. Abraham proceeds to the mountain and not even the question Isaac asks stops him because he knows perfectly well that the center of his focus, God, will provide. And as he is about to slaughter his son, with a right focus, he is able to listen to God when the lamb is provided. God is ready to be with us in the journey. The problem we have is that we always want to reverse the order. We want to lead as God follows us. He will never follow nobody. He wants to lead as we follow. He know the path and is able to guide you through every stage. He is the only one will take you to your destination safely. When it gets tough he will be there to help you through. 

In the times I have made Him my focus, he has carried me through. My shame has been covered, my guilt taken, my sorrow he has replaced with joy, the ashes of the journey he has given me beauty for them, every tear he has wiped away, every sickness he has healed. Every pain he has taken away. I am walking victorious in this journey knowing that God the center of my focus will see me to the end. His glory surrounds me and his strength is made perfect in my weakness. His grace is sufficient and he is ever present. This is my throwback experience today. The journey maybe tough but the author of this journey is tougher. I will cry in his arms, I will let his hands heal me. When I am out of breath I will inhale his breath and when I grow weary I will allow him to carry me. He is the one I have decided to follow.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E6MzgVsP2uE

Make God the center of your journey today.