It is time of difficulty that build our character. Christ walks with us during the hard times.

The road to Emmaus is a great example of how we act and how we should think during challenging times. Cleopas and his companion were down in the dumps – they had their faith tested greatly by the events of the past few days and they were doubting. They had started with their own ideas of who Christ was and what he was going to do. Remember back on Palm Sunday, Jesus’ triumphant entrance into Jerusalem. Many people, likely including Cleopas, saw Jesus as the Messiah who would free the Jews from the yoke of the Romans. Instead of liberating them, Jesus was imprisoned, tortured, and killed.

The disciples had not been listening to what Jesus had actually said and taught. When he spoke of all the difficulties that he would face, including his death and resurrection, they had not paid attention. How often do we do this? We have our own ideas of what we believe and what we think is true, so we often tune our ideas that are counter to what we believe.

Even after the third day, when Jesus *had* returned, and some had seen or experienced His resurrection, many Jew, including these two, still wanted THEIR OWN VISION OF WHO JESUS WAS, to be true. But they knew their vision couldn’t be, so they were down and dejected that their vision wasn’t so.

I believe that it is times of difficulty like this that build our character. We are broken down and sad because of our experiences. We are in a bit of a similar time of difficulty in this current pandemic. We all have our own ideas of what is true and what solutions are the right ones. But it is important that we also lean into listening to God during this time and understanding that He is still in control. And we need to recognize that God is walking with us. You may have read “Footsteps in the Sand” before, I thought it worthwhile to share here.

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One night I dreamed a dream.
As I was walking along the beach with my Lord.
Across the dark sky flashed scenes from my life.
For each scene, I noticed two sets of footprints in the sand,
One belonging to me and one to my Lord.

After the last scene of my life flashed before me,
I looked back at the footprints in the sand.
I noticed that at many times along the path of my life,
especially at the very lowest and saddest times,
there was only one set of footprints.

This really troubled me, so I asked the Lord about it.
“Lord, you said once I decided to follow you,
You’d walk with me all the way.
But I noticed that during the saddest and most troublesome times of my life,
there was only one set of footprints.
I don’t understand why, when I needed You the most, You would leave me.”

He whispered, “My precious child, I love you and will never leave you
Never, ever, during your trials and testings.
When you saw only one set of footprints,
It was then that I carried you.”
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Like Jesus did on the road to Emmaus, Christ is walking with us today on our uncertain path with this pandemic. We need to lean into him. And like Jesus did with the two on the road, we need to read the Scriptures more. It will give us hope, direction, and buoy our spirits. The lessons we learn there will give us strength to work through our challenges in our current world.

Through these challenging and difficult times, even though we may not recognizing it as they occur, Jesus will be our support and protector. And I love the fact that by being vulernable to Jesus in asking for His support and aid, we build our own character and strength.