Ever forward

Whatever the challenge — be it a new calling that overwhelms or a medical diagnosis that concerns —  we can commit to move ever forward.

Life will always bring its ups and downs.  And they usually come compounded.  As King Claudius in Shakespeare's Hamlet laments, "When sorrows come, they come not single spies, but in battalions."

That compounding effect can make our challenges more challenging.  We can hope the ups of life will also come "in battalions" to compensate for a multiplicity of sorrows, but that can seem like cold comfort in the moment of confronting challenge.

Regardless of whether life goes up or down today, the best response is always the same.  We need to walk by faith the Lord will not allow events to veer too far from His plan.  Whatever the challenge — be it a new calling that overwhelms or a medical diagnosis that concerns —  we can commit to move ever forward.

A new calling

I actually had both of those events happen in the past few days.  The new calling came on Sunday.  When the stake president texted me to request a meeting, I knew it was about a calling.  I just didn't know what calling.

I learned soon enough amidst a mixture of surprise and overwhelm.  I expected a calling working with the singles.  That just makes sense for a man in my position.  But the calling extended to me was totally different.  I was called to be the new stake executive secretary.

That the Lord would want me in such a position truly baffles me.  Am I the one who should be joining meetings of the stake president with his counselors and meetings of the high council and such not as a participant, mind you, but as an equal contributor?  I just never really thought of myself in that way, and so this new calling feels a little intimidating.

But I accepted the calling because I know the Lord governs His Church through revelation.  I responded by walking in faith the Lord will support me.  In so doing, I have committed to move ever forward.

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A worsening condition

If news of a new calling is a blessing, this one wasn't meant to last very long.  Later that night I began to feel stomach pain.  At the time, it felt like I had just eaten something bad.  I wasn't sure what that could have been, but I wasn't overly concerned as I laid myself down to sleep.

A couple of hours later I awoke to an even more intense pain.  The pain wasn't so large it debilitated me, but it was large enough to keep me awake.  Try as I might, I couldn't get back to sleep.

Tired from a night of almost no sleep, I went to see the doctor first thing in the morning.  Considering my previous visit after a near miss of a heart attack, the doctor reaffirmed the earlier diagnosis and extended it to include the possibility of an ulcer.

Actually, it was more of a probability than a possibility; left untreated, my condition would certainly worsen.  The pain I experienced was most likely created from bacteria that precedes most ulcers eating away at the wall of my stomach.  We can't be sure until the test results come back in.

But we can be sure walking by faith is once more the best response.  I have a contribution to make, and I'm not going to quit what the Lord gave me to fulfill because of any medical diagnosis.  Certainly the one I received concerns me greatly.  But I am determined to walk in faith the Lord will support me.  In so doing, I have committed to move ever forward.

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A determined response

Life will always bring its ups and downs, but we can live with confidence when we walk in faith.  My decision to walk by faith hasn't lessened the overwhelm I feel in my new calling or the concern I feel in my unfolding medical condition.  I still have those challenges.

But the point of walking by faith is not to remove our challenges.  The point of walking by faith is to strengthen our dependency upon God to see us through whatever life may bring us — all of the ups and all of the downs.  With Him, nothing is impossible.

Whatever challenge confronts you right now, I invite you to join me in the response I have given and will continue to give to my challenges.  Commit to moving ever forward.  Your progress may be slow or perhaps so small that it doesn't really look like progress at all.  But by placing your trust in the Lord and walking in faith, you can, in the due time of the Lord, overcome any challenge placed before you.  And that will bring you more joy in your journey.

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You can listen to the monologue from today's episode of Joy In The Journey Radio here.  Please also feel free to continue the conversation by leaving a comment below.  Want to hear more?  Listen to the whole show by going to the show page for this episode.