We had hoped the waters would part and we would skip across  on dry land, the case happily closed with all our wishes granted by a wise judge.

It was not to be.  Not because we did not pray, not because we had not prepared, not because we weren’t trusting God to supply for our lack…but just well, because.  God knows.  We stepped into the water’s edge with the ringing of the phone.  Within minutes of the phone-conference beginning we were up to our knees. Brr.  And I had scarcely opened my mouth before the water was surging up to our necks. Still standing,  but floundering, then treading water, scrambling for a rock to stand on, what could I say but ‘God help!’  as I took a deep breath and began to present my mom’s case.  The water did not retreat, but the Judge was kind, understanding, even sympathetic.  And by the hearing’s end when our reasons were exhausted without parting the sea and we had gathered up the few bits of flotsam at hand, we were still standing, my sister and I, in the stream on stepping stones. [Truth be told, she was huddled in a closet out of the way of the movers who had arrived late to pack up her house around her.  Lord?  what timing this hearing!] But there we were, together in the stream, with stones to stand on.  This is where we wait.  The waters have not parted.  They are cold.  But there is a Rock underfoot, and tomorrow, or next week, or next month when we need to take the next step, there will be another stone, another voice in our ear: “This is the way, walk in it.”

Miracles are not only in the parting of the water.  Miracles sometimes come in increments—in the unseen ways God works in human hearts.  God knows the testing my faith needs in order to grow robust, in order to overcome its aversion to loose ends.  So here I stand holding messy knot-filled strings wondering how they will ever form a life-line. There are many unknowns I cannot solve, cannot even hasten to an end.  There is SO much I want to see resolved today.  The case for justice and mercy seems clear to me, to God too I’m sure.  But it will entail a process of faith.  One step at a time, as He opens the way or shows the stepping stones hidden just beneath the surging water.

And this morning as I coddled my disappointment from yesterday’s hearing and tried to take stock of next steps, this oldie came singing into my morning.

One Day at a Time

And before I could get these words recorded here, official word came by email that one major knot has been untangled in our legal pursuit!  We stand in a current but not without a God who works mightily on behalf of those who wait for Him.

Thanks for sharing this journey,

Linda

I will give thanks to you, O LORD, among the peoples; I will sing praises to you among the nations.  For your steadfast love is great above the heavens; your faithfulness reaches to the clouds. Ps.108:3,4

I love the LORD, because He has heard my voice and my pleas for mercy.  Because he inclined his ear to me, therefore I will call on Him as long as I live.  Ps.116:1,2