Deuteronomy 31:8 “The Lord Himself goes before you; He will be with you. He will never leave you or forsake you. Do not be afraid or discouraged.”

Joshua 1:9 “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”

Psalm 139:5 “You go before me and follow me; you place your hand on me.”

Isaiah 41:10 “Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.”

I don’t know about you, but I find great comfort in these verses, and over the past several months, I have had them come alive to me in so many ways.  I want to tell you about just a few of these in hopes that you will also look deep at your life and see times where you know God went before you and prepared the way. 

Back in May, I went for a routine ultrasound of my breasts. I did my due diligence and left for my vacation shortly after. While on vacation, I received a call that a mass had been found on the left side, and I would require further testing. Once home from vacation, I called my doctor, and they were able to see me for another ultrasound that very afternoon. The next day, I received another call telling me I would need a mammogram because of the mass seen in my left breast. I called and got the earliest available appointment.  During this time, I did not sit around worried or afraid; I had mild concern, as this was not the first time a suspicious place had been found. I prayed and asked the Lord to heal me if it was His will, and also to help me to rest in His Sovereign plan. When I went for the mammogram, a very sweet technician came in and did my test. She then told me the doctor would come in and would most likely  repeat what she had just done. So, after a  few minutes, the doctor entered the room. She asked how I was doing and proceeded to repeat the same test I had just finished. At the completion, she looked at me and said, “ I see nothing here!” No evidence of any type of mass. I was shocked, but elated! She then asked me if I needed anything else, to which I gladly replied, No, it doesn’t get any better than hearing these words: there is nothing here! I left floating!

I was elated and notified all those who had been praying of the great news! Just a few weeks later, I received a call that my mother had taken a horrible fall and was hurt very badly.  I immediately got on a plane and flew back home, not knowing what to expect or how long I would be there. As it turned out, she was black and blue, with a badly broken shoulder and a head injury, a broken toe, and a hurt knee. This began her long stay of 1 month and 2 days in the hospital.  I was there with her until she was released. I cannot tell you how thankful I am that I could stay with her.  Those first few days were hard, and the medicines made her confused, so I was able to be her ears and voice. She was transferred by ambulance 2 weeks later to another hospital for therapy. 

As I sat there, often awake all night, I had time to really think about what God had done for me in the “there is nothing here.” Had the mass been found, I would have started a journey that would have most likely kept me from being able to stay with my mother, but because it was clear I was not only able to stay the full time, I was also able to bring her home with me for 3 weeks and then I started my weekly roadtrips up to her house 6 hours away, (on a good day); leaving on Friday late afternoon/evening and coming home on Monday nights. I did that for 5 months, the last month every two weeks, ending at the end of November.  It was a sweet and holy time I enjoyed with my mother. And I am so thankful that God went before me and prepared everything in the way He had ordained it. He alone knew what was coming, and he made the way straight for me. 

So many times on my drives, particularly one that took 9 hours, I felt as though He was at the wheel, making sure I was safe and sound on interstates where people tend to forget the speed limit! I would be going through heavy traffic, sometimes traffic jams, and His peace would wash over me.  I felt at times that if I looked hard enough, I might physically see Him sitting with me. I had so many mighty prayer warriors who prayed me up and down those highways and byways, and God heard and answered! And I would think about those verses where God has said: “I will go before you,” “don”t be afraid.” I was never afraid; I would feel Him with me on each trip I took. He tenderly cared for me as I ministered to my mother, reminding me of His faithfulness and goodness always, especially in the hard and trying times.

Not long ago, these verses came alive again in the person of my son-in-law. He is a pilot and has a plane he flies for work. Often, my daughter travels with him and helps him with various areas of his work. He has a beautiful plane that has a built- in parachute.  Pretty nice to know if you start to fall out of the sky, you can deploy the chute.  But in doing the chute, you need to know where you might fall or onto whom you might fall.

Well, he and my daughter wanted her to be trained to know how to deploy the chute in case he was incapacitated for any reason on one of their flights, so she took a class on the “what to do scenario”  While there, my son-in-law asked on a whim if he could do a simulation  in one of their test simulators  for his type plane on how to land without power of any kind. They agreed, and he did the simulation.  This is where it gets good! One week later, on a work trip, the unthinkable happened: the cockpit was filling with smoke, and he had no power. He texted my daughter one word… ”PRAY!” She knew instinctively that it was something really bad, she called us crying and asked us to pray, and we did with her, and after we hung up.  His friend, who was with him, also a pilot, but never having flown this particular airplane, wanted to pull the chute asap,(which would total the plane), and also gave several other suggestions on what to do, but my son-in-law decided that at the altitude he was at and the conditions, he was going to radio it in and land it.  And that is what he did. He was met on the runway by fire engines, and even the mayor of the little town was there.  Once down, his friend who was with him said, “If you had done any of the things I said to do, we probably would not be here!  His plane was fixed, and a few weeks later he was able fly it home.  Yes, a very happy ending to a very scary ordeal. This is another great example where the Lord went before him and prepared him for what He knew was coming. 

When my son-in-law was safe, I texted him and said that I hoped he could clearly see how God had gone before him to allow him  to do the simulator because He  (God) knew what was coming! Wow! Just Wow!

I hope these two short stories will encourage you in your walk with the Lord. That you will look for those moments when you know that God was working way before the need arose!  Yes, He is always with us, but He will also go before us, preparing the way!

Blessings friends!