Footprints-another version

Imagine going to heaven and standing by God as He lovingly shows you the calendar of His plan for your earthly life. It begins with the day you were born. Once you received Christ as Savior, every day that follows is outlined in red. You see footprints walking through each day of each week of your life. On many of the days, two sets of footprints appear. You inquire, "Father, are those my footprints on the calendar every day and is the second set of prints when You joined me?"
He answers, "No, My precious child. The consistent footprints on your calendar are Mine. The second set of footprints are when you joined Me."
"Where were You going, Father?"
"To the destiny I planned for you, hoping you'd follow."
"But Father, where were my footprints all those times?"
He answers, "Sometimes you went back to look at old resentments and habits while I was still going forward, hoping you'd join me. Sometimes you departed from My path and chose your own calendar instead. Other times your footprints can even be seen on another person's calendar because you thought you liked their plan better. At other times you simply stopped because you would not let go of something you could not take the next day."
"But Father, we ended up OK even if I didn't walk with You every day, didn't we?"
He holds you close and smiles, "Yes, My child, we ended up OK. But, you see, OK was never what I had in mind for you."
"Father, what are those golden treasure boxes on certain days?"
"Blessings, My child, I had for you along the way. Those that are open are those you received. Those still closed were days you did not walk with Me."

Isolation

I have heard of a couple of people suffering physically and emotionally in the past few days.
I started thinking of what physical or emotional pain does to us. It isolates us. We want to withdraw into ourselves, be left alone. We even tell God to go away, to leave us alone. Yet, the opposite is what we need. When we are with people, the pain IS less. With God the difference is even greater. If it is good for us, God will heal us. However, if it is better for us, God gives us the means to endure the pain. As much as I don't like to think that it is God's will that I suffer, I have to acknowledge that God knows what I need better than I do. Job couldn't understand God; why should I be able to understand? I have to think if maybe something in my life needs correcting. If not that, then what? Something in the future that I may be called to do that God is now preparing me for. Our choice when we suffer is whether to walk with God or to walk alone.

Psalm 23 as interpreted by Leslie Brandt

"The Lord is my constant companion.
There is no need that He cannot fulfill.
Whether His course for me points to the mountaintops
of glorious ecstasy or to the valleys of human suffering,
He is by my side,
He is ever present with me.
He is close beside me when I tread the dark streets of danger,
and even when I flirt with death itself,
He will not leave me.
When the pain is severe,
He is near to comfort.
When the burden is heavy,
He is there to lean upon.
He touches me with eternal joy.
When I feel empty and alone,
He fills the aching vacuum with His power.
My security is in His promise to be near to me always,
and in the knowledge that He will never let me go."

Psalm 23, as interpreted by Leslie Brandt in Psalms/Now (Concordia,
1973), p.38.