Over the years as we’ve traveled I have never paid much attention to the mile markers on the highway. Some of you may not know that there are mile markers along every interstate and highway. Occasionally Mark would ask me as we traveled, “What mile marker did we just pass?” Because I wasn’t driving I wasn’t paying attention as to the mile markers and how many miles we had yet to go on our journey.
Mile markers are typically little green signs with white numbers on them. Each sign marks where you are along your journey, and how many more miles you have to travel. Seven years ago, when the Lord set us on this journey, after our stepping down from the staff position at our church, Mark being diagnosed with a rare condition, his going through nine months of depression, the selling of our home, one closed door after another in looking for a job, and five moves in five and a half years, I had no idea of the ways in which he would “mark” our journey.
When I look back to the five places of occupancy God provided for us over these years of travel, each is a “marker” along the road. With each one I can “mark” what God did and where I was along the highway He placed us on.
Moving from our home to the first rental was as exciting as our drive along the Blue Ridge Parkway. Traveling that road was breathtaking with all its’ sharp curves, green lush valleys, tree covered mountain peaks, and numerous tunnels forged through the incredible stone of the Smoky Mountains. With only two weeks to pack, find a new place in which to live and move out of our home, God worked in a breathtaking way to place us in that rental home. It was the first time we’d seen God answer our prayers in such a specific way. Perhaps our ears were more attentive and our eyes more opened to watching for Him to work because of our circumstances. At any rate, it was absolutely amazing!
As we journeyed with the Lord over seventeen months in that home, the road was marked with my struggle against surrendering to what God was allowing in our lives and the way in which He was choosing to write our story, as well as learning to wait on Him. These would seem for many to be easy markers, key to traveling this road called Christianity. But for me, surrendering to what God desired to do in my life and through my circumstances was hard to do. The highway I was traveling was marked with periods of resistance to waiting on Him and surrendering to Him.
With just two weeks’ notice we prepared to move once again. As I pulled out of the driveway on moving day, I looked back and marked that house as my place of learning to wait on God, as well as my place of total surrender. The second move was into a rental home, much smaller than the previous one. There I struggled with fear and anxiety, so intense at times that it rendered me helpless. Many nights I lay in the dark crying over the losses I was experiencing, which seemed so great. Not material losses, but emotional losses. God met me each and every day in my corner chair; He eased my pain and replaced my fear and anxiety with His peace. That sweet little house on the corner will always be the marker on this journey highway as my place of peace and joy.
We were moving again after just sixteen months. This time we were going to be living in seminary housing. Yet, even smaller! I never planned on an apartment when setting out on this journey! In that three bedroom apartment God taught me a lesson I’ve always desired to know, that of being truly content. At times over the years, I have thought I understood contentment, but I didn’t! It wasn’t until God placed us in that apartment after 38 years of marriage, that I learned to be content. Seminary housing will always be my marker for learning true contentment.
Five months was much too quick for another move, but we were moving nevertheless. God provided a little place in a retirement village just around the corner from the apartment. Weary from packing, unpacking, and juggling storage units, we settled in with a desire to find a house of our own in which to live. Mark’s condition was worsening and he needed a home suited to fit his needs. With an anonymous gift, given us a few years earlier in hopes that we would be able to find a home, we paid for a lot and began to build a house. What a sweet place that retirement village home was; God marked that place with His divine character of being the One and only source of our provision- Our Jehovah Jireh!
In June of 2013, we moved into our home. We have yet to see all the markers God has for us in this place. One thing we know for sure, as we travel this journey highway He will continually mark the way for us because He is faithful!
In reading an article, three reasons were given as to why we have mile markers along our highways. One is for assistance; they can be used in difficult times to allow others to find you and give assistance. Secondly, for gauging how far you are from your destination. Thirdly, for determining what direction you are going. God allows markers in our walk with Him. Along this road Mark and I are traveling, He has given us assistance, He has allowed us to look back and gauge how far we have come, and He alone is setting the direction we are going. He is the One who determines our destination and places markers in our lives in order that we will know Him in a way we would have not known Him if not for this highway.
Father, thank you for marking our lives with Your presence, Your power, Your plans and Your purposes, which all accomplish Your divine work in us. I am grateful for Your assistance, my Jehovah Jireh. I am grateful for the ways in which You have stretched us and refined us; looking back we have come a long way! I am most thankful that You and You alone know the highway on which we will travel for Your glory and our good!
“We know that all things work together for the good of those who love God; those who are called according to His purpose.” Romans 8:28
“Your word is a lamp for my feet and a light on my path.” Psalm 119:105
dianne