God is always there to carry us through our trials

We have all heard about, and experienced, times when we feel like God is testing us. One of my favorite poems is the “Footprints” prayer because of its reminder that God is always with us in our times of need.

Personally, last year, I felt as though I was being tested: it was my first year of marriage, first year as a Ph.D. student and the first year that I genuinely realized that I was embarking on adulthood and family life.

It was also that year that I experienced medical issues, issues that have since been resolved, that shook my beliefs to the core. Of course, I questioned why God would allow something to happen to me at such an important part of my life. But, ultimately, I put my trust in him and asked for the support of prayer. And, thankfully, things worked out.

Recently, again, I’ve felt the same trials as my family is again working through medical issues. I often find myself wondering about God’s plan and having to reaffirm my faith and trust. Often, this is a struggle, but I’ve noticed a particular cycle that occurs because when we are tried and tested, we come to a critical point of decision.

This time around, I’ve been bolstered by my faith because just as I found out about my own family, a close friend of mine in school found out that his mother’s cancer had spread and that she was terminal. In that moment, I realized that perhaps there’s a two-way street to being tried and tested by our faith: that we both experience those trials, and that we are also called to help others through that trial.

Noticing the questions that my friend had were the same questions that I have had in the past, I was able to guide him closer toward acceptance and peace.

In the last section of “Footprints,” the speaker questions God about noticing only one set of footprints during the most troublesome parts of life. Thinking that God had abandoned him, the speaker asks, “I don’t understand why in times when I needed you most, you should leave me.”

Perhaps this is why this prayerful poem is so powerful: we can all admit to being in this exact situation. We have all experienced doubt and have questioned why God would abandon us in time of crisis.

So, the last lines of God’s response are always in my mind whenever I find myself questioning: “I love you, and I would never leave you in times of trial and suffering. When you saw only one set of footprints, it was then that I carried you.”

That particular image of being carried by God is so very powerful.

How often, even as young adults, do we receive bad news and wish that our father or mother were there so that we would have a shoulder to cry on? How often do we seek comfort in others? It is this very human sentiment that this poem picks up on: our vulnerability in times of doubt. And it is that very vulnerability that we see being carried away, until we are again able to stand on our own and set back down to the ground, walking beside God.

During those times of trial, it is best to always remember the image of God carrying us, relieving our burden, until we can again stand firm. God doesn’t abandon us; it is we who abandon God.

Heather Bozant-Witcher can be reached at [email protected].