Walk by Faith

I went out this morning to do my simple routine with the donkeys; basic groundwork. While leading Teddy around the yard with a feed sack on his back we came to the trench which runs across our yard. Most of it is recovered, but there is a small section that remains open near the edge of the yard. I guess on times before I hadn't taken him this way, because when we got close he refused to go the way I wanted. It wasn't even over the trench that I led him, just beside it.

 

 

 I tried everything to get him to walk across. (I’ve been told the importance of training horse/donkey to obey, even if the command seems scary to them.) An hour later I was at the end of ideas and physical strength but I could see he was just beginning. He was never going to cross anywhere near that trench.

Out of the corner of my eye I saw a white shirt lying on the ground…that’s it! 

I grabbed it and wrapped it over his eyes, he couldn’t see a thing. Turning him around I began to lead him through the path, near the trench… past his fears. Victory!!!

When I uncovered his eyes, he looked back towards where we’d come.

Tomorrow I’m heading straight for that trench. He’ll cross where I want him to. The children who will ride on his back one day will be safe and secure even when a trench comes into view.

I have a new appreciation for the times when I am required to walk by faith not sight. I look forward to the day when He can take off my blinds and I will willingly run beside Him near the trenches or right over them if He wants me too. That’s the kind of faith I want...that's the kind of faith I choose. 

"But the question to precede all others, which finally determines the course of our lives is What do I really want? Was it to love what God commands, in the words of the collect, and to desire what He promises? Did I want what I wanted, or did I want what He wanted, no matter what it might cost?"~ Elisabeth Elliot (Passion and Purity: Learning to Bring Your Love Life Under Christ Control