An Awesome Travelling Companion

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths. Proverbs 3:5-6 (KJV). Thinking about this verse over the years, I have often wondered what it meant to “acknowledge Him.” The Hebrew word is yaw-dah, meaning to know or “ascertain by seeing.” The word has many implications, including close relationship as with a” familiar friend” or “kinsman” and “to know” and “make known.” The word “trust” in this verse is batach, meaning to be confident, secure, sure. To paraphrase it in my own words,” Be completely confident in the Lord. In all your plans, include Him as you would your dearest friend. Because He is included in everything you do, He will be your guide, even when you don’t understand the route.”

I’ve just returned from the trip of a lifetime. My husband and I travelled to Tahiti, Australia and New Zealand over the course of a month. Our daughter and three wonderful grandchildren are living in Melbourne for a year while my son-in-law completes a work opportunity there. To my husband, this seemed the perfect time to fulfill a life-long dream to visit these wonderful places, while spending cherished time with our grandchildren. I cannot think of the trip without thinking of Ephesians 3:20, because it exceeded our expectations in every way. The month was filled with adventure, including an ATV excursion on the island of Moorea, a helicopter ride over the Great Ocean Road of Australia, a walk-about in the Australian bush, a guided horseback tour in the wilderness of New Zealand, a cruise through the fjords of Milford Sound, a gondola ride to the top of Bob’s Peak overlooking Queenstown and beautiful Lake Wakatipu, a delightful visit to Hobbit town, a trek around the thermal mud pots and geysers of Rotorua…. All in all we covered nearly 24,000 miles, and spent nearly 48 hours in the air. What is particularly impressive to me about this remarkable trip is that I really wasn’t looking forward to travelling for a month, and the thought of flying such long distances made me anxious. Even short trips in the air made me apprehensive. Gratefully, I can state those things in the past tense. While planning the trip, I decided to take Proverbs 3:5-6 to heart, believe it and live it. As we worked on our itinerary, I spread it all out before the Lord in prayer. I talked to Him about what our plans and hopes were, and asked Him to be in every detail. I also asked Him to turn my fears into joyful anticipation (Psalm 34: 4-5). He kept His promise…..He directed our paths (on land and in the air!), and even the occasional glitch in our plans turned out to be for the best. And all the while, I felt I was sharing the adventure with my “Familiar Friend.” What an awesome travelling Companion!!