18. LOOK AWAY FROM THE ODDS.
O. Abi. Shalom wrote:::::::Why focus on the negativity? Why being scared of the mountain that's not there? Why not take a minute and look away from the odds? Close your eyes and let go of the fear.
I was walking along a very thick dark pathway in the early hours of one morning, praying. Then I got to a particular place, where looking ahead, I saw nothing. It was perfectly dark. The sounds and unpleasant echoes erupting from the darkness was frightening. This pathway is a usual one to me; except that there was no electricity to power up the streetlights that particular morning. I was not with any lamp or touch or even a phone because I expected the streetlights lit. The unusual darkness and uncertainty ahead sent chills to my spine and psyche that I momentarily stopped praying and reasoned humanly, "I can't see ahead. The darkness is too thick and scary. I'd rather wait here a bit until the day becomes brighter and then continue to walk. "Then the thought just popped into my mind "why are you scared of the dark? Aren't you in the presence of the LORD? should you be scared of the dark?"I argued a bit about being reasonable, logical and human."Why walk by Logic when you can walk by faith?" Was the next thought that I heard. I gave up, clung onto faith and took a step forward. My one step became ten, then twenty, then fifty. And I wondered, "I thought this road was dead dark?".
When I moved forward, I noticed that the further I went, there was hardly any thick darkness. I walked, not by what I had initially seen, but by faith that I was not going to be hurt. As I walked on, I saw that the darkness wasn't out of the ordinary. In fact, it was bright! I praised God and walked on with aplomb and confidence. Now, what if I had stayed on the spot I thought was brighter? What if I had not moved forward because of fear of the dark? The darkness that was not there. If I had listened to my human senses and logical reasoning, I wouldn't have moved forward because of the 'mountain' I supposedly saw. I would have been tied to one spot. I would have imprisoned myself with my mind!
This is the exact same thing happening to the world today! We all stop at a point or position that seems 'brighter' or 'safer' than the uncertainty, the mountains, the odds and troubles that we seemingly think lies ahead of us. We refuse to move ahead in life, refuse to change our location, our jobs that we are already tired of. We let our minds imprison us until we conform to the size of that prison. If only we will close our eyes against the odds, if only we'd take a step of faith, we'd see that the mountain we are scared of, the mountain we as a reason of refused to move forward was actually a figment of our imagination; a shadow of reality. We would see that we were actually scared of nothing.
I have heard from several elderly ones the "HAD I KNOWN" stories."I wish I quitted the job 20 years ago""I wish I relocated my family years ago. I didn't even know what I was scared of""I wish I had taken up that job offer, I wont be where I am now""I was blinded by the comfort I was enjoying fifty years ago. I wish I had left there, my life would be much better than this. I wasted life!"Dear Beloved, people of the bright future; why not step out of that comfort zone that fear to venture out has placed you in? Why not look away from the odds, from the worries, fears, shadows, anxieties and the mountains you think you see???THEY ARE NOT #THERE!!!!!!!Take a step of faith. Do that humanly unreasonable thing; you'll see you made one of the best decisions ever. Be led by the spirit of God. Look away from the odds; Shut your eyes against the darkness and mountains. Look unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith.