Do you live your life valiantly, or do you react to each new problem with dread and stress? I hope that one of my life experiences will help you to learn how to be valiant.
It is better to take shelter in the LORD than to trust in people. (Psalm 118)
My children used to stand on a table and fling themselves off into my arms trusting me to catch them. They had no fear because they trusted me to protect them from harm. They knew that I would always catch them. In the beginning, I was like that with Jesus. I trusted Him to catch me as I flung myself into the next steps of the path that He was leading me on. However, when I was attending a Christian college, I began trusting religious leaders and fellow Christians as much as I had previously trusted Jesus. That’s why when my trust was betrayed by some of those people, I began to lose trust in Jesus’ protection also. I began to depend on myself instead of Him. I stopped jumping into life trusting Jesus to catch me. Instead I jumped where I thought I could land safely. Unfortunately, there is no safe place in this world to jump except our Savior’s arms. Life beat on me for quite a while as I tried to face it in my own strength. Even after I recommitted myself to living within Jesus’ protection, it took me a while to recover from being crippled from all the falls caused by trusting myself instead of Jesus. Learning to be valiant again is an ongoing process, but I want to share an experience with you that happened to me one spring that demonstrates how trusting that Jesus is with us can change a fearful experience into a blessing.
On March 20 of 2017, my son and I were on our way back to our house after visiting our family in another town. About the midpoint of our journey, we stopped for gas in a little town called Valley Falls. After filling up with gas, I pulled the car forward to a parking space, and my son and I went in to get drinks and something to eat.
Now, I need to tell you that during the week before this, I had been reading a book called Patriarchs and Prophets and wondering how a people who experienced miracles with God every day could be so untrusting and rebellious as the children of Israel following Moses from Egypt and during their time of wandering in the desert for 40 years. I wondered if I would have been like them or if I would have trusted God. I hoped that I would have trusted God, but knowing my past history, I was not confident that I would have.
Now, back to my experience. My son and I got back into the car, and it started fine, but when I tried to put it into reverse, nothing happened. The car would not move. This was a Sunday when many businesses are closed, especially in small towns, so I had a sinking sensation in my stomach as I wondered what I could do in this strange place where I did not know anyone, but I remembered my spiritual lesson from earlier in the week, and I told myself to trust God. I sent a prayer to God as I went back into the gas station. I waited patiently silently praying as the cashier finished talking to a kindergarten teacher in front of me who was ordering a pizza and discussing a student that they both knew. When it was my turn, I told the young lady behind the counter about my situation, and she told me that the mechanic downtown was open and could help me. I felt my heart begin to sink once more because I couldn’t think of any way for me to get my car downtown to the mechanic, but again I told myself to trust God and sent another silent prayer up to Him. Seeing the desperation on my face, the young woman quickly added that the people in the white building across the highway might be able to help me since they changed oil in cars there. My anxiety started to lift a little. It was still quite a hike, but it was manageable. I silently thanked God and was preparing myself mentally for the long walk when a cascade of blessings started to pour out on me. You see, the kindergarten teacher had been listening to our conversation as she waited for her pizza. She offered to give me a ride over to the building across the highway. I accepted, and she not only delivered me to my destination but also waited with me so that she could take me back to my car.
Inside the building, I approached the lady behind the counter and told her about my situation. She told me that they could not help me, but before I could even begin to worry, she called out to a man sitting on the other side of the room “Do you know Mark’s number?” He didn’t, but a teenage girl who was sitting at the counter nearby began quickly scrolling through her phone and called out the number as the lady behind the counter wrote it down. You know, I absolutely hate talking to strangers on the phone, so I was not real happy as I started to mentally rehearse what I would tell Mark when she gave me the number. . . but she didn’t give me the number!
The lady turned to the phone on the counter and began dialing herself. Then, she started chatting on the phone and telling the person on the other end of the line my story. When she hung up, she told me that Mark would be over at the gas station in about fifteen minutes. As the kind kindergarten teacher gave me a return ride back across the highway, I was beginning to realize that something wonderful was happening.
With a new sense of peace, I waited with my son on the shady bench that was sitting right in front of my car. As we munched on our food, I enjoyed the warmth of the spring sunshine. Shortly after I finished eating, an older man and a young man showed up in a pickup. They quickly looked under the hood of my car and figured out the problem right away. Rather than call a tow truck, the old man, Mark, wiggled something under the hood which got the car moving in reverse. Then, he adjusted it again, and the car could move forward. The young man, who was Mark’s son, drove my car downtown to the shop while my son and I rode in the pickup with Mark, who turned out to be a gentle, kind man. A few minutes later, my son and I were sitting in front of the shop as Mark and a grandson worked next to us under the hood of my car. One of Mark’s granddaughters climbed a flowering tree near our bench while a mother hound dog wandered over to be petted and the happy cries of some other grandchildren rang out from inside the shop. As I enjoyed the beauty of the day surrounded by Mark’s family, I began to list all the wonderful gifts that God had given me that day. I realized that God had BLESSED me with car trouble. By trusting in God to take care of me, an overwhelming and stressful experience had changed into a pleasant side trip on my journey home.
Was I valiant? Not as most people think of valiant, but I was trusting God, and that is the only true courage there is. Psalm 118:5-6 says “I called on the LORD in my distress; the LORD answered me openly. The LORD is with me. I will not be afraid. What can people do to me?” I don’t always trust God as I should, but that day Jesus demonstrated to me that if I trust Him to lead me and follow where He tells me to go, I will see the blessings that are present for God’s people even in bad situations. I will see that He is with me and have confidence to go forward valiantly. I pray that I will always do as the Psalmist says in the next verses of Psalm 118, verses 7-10. “With the LORD beside me as my helper, I will triumph over those who hate me. It is better to take shelter in the LORD than to trust in people. It is better to take shelter in the LORD than to trust in princes. All the nations surrounded me; but in the name of the LORD I will defeat them.”