Stormie Omartian - Just Enough Light for the Step Im On: Trusting God in the Tough Times

With special thanks:

to my husband, Michael, for believing so strongly in me and in this book.

to my children, Mandy, Chris, and John, for your love and support.

to my prayer partners and dear friends, Susan Martinez, Katie Stewart, Donna Summer Sudano, Roz Thompson, and Jan Williamson, for your prayers and encouragement.

to my wonderful secretary, sister, and friend, Susan Martinez, for blessing my life in so many ways.

to Bob Hawkins, Jr., Carolyn McCready, Bill Jensen, Julie Tingstrom, Teresa Evenson, Ruth Samsel, Barb Sherrill, Janna Walkup, and Betty Fletcher for catching the vision for this book and making it all happen. You are the best!

to Patrick Raffy Frantz for your inspiring photographs, my favorite of which appears in the beginning of this book.

Contents

M ore and more, God is teaching me to trust Him for every step I take. He constantly calls me to stretch beyond whats comfortable. To walk through new territory when I would rather stay with the familiar. To face difficult physical, mental, and emotional challenges. To do things I know I cant achieve by myself without His power. Each time something is required of me that Im certain I am unable to accomplish in my own strength, I see a picture of just one or two steps being illuminated, while those before and after are engulfed in darkness and cannot be seen. This describes my walk with God. I trust Him for each day of life, grateful for every breath, determined to look for the blessing in the moment, no matter what the circumstances. I follow His leadeven when I cant see where Im going, even when it scares me to do sobecause deep within my spirit I know that these simple steps of faith are preparing me for eternity.

Stormie Omartian

... come and let us walk in
the light of the LORD.

Isaiah 2:5

Sometimes only the step Im on,

or the very next one ahead,

is all that is illuminated for me.

God gives just the amount of light I need

for the exact moment I need it.

At those times I walk in surrender to faith,

unable to see the future

and not fully comprehending the past.

And because it is God who has given me

what light I have,

I know I must reject the fear and

doubt that threaten to overtake me.

I must determine to be content where

I am, and allow God to get me where I

need to go.

I walk forward,

one step at a time,

fully trusting that

the light God sheds

is absolutely sufficient.

Life is a walk. Each day we take steps. Our tomorrow is determined by the steps we take today.

When both of my children learned to walk, they didnt get very far without falling. They fared much better if they reached up and took my hand. Or their fathers hand. We were able to guide them away from danger and get them safely where they needed to go. But sometimes they quickly headed off without our help. My son would end up falling down and hurting himself, or my daughter would wander off to someplace she wasnt supposed to go and get into trouble. Occasionally we allowed those things to happen because we wanted them to eventually learn to walk without our assistance. Of course, we did step in and protect them when we saw danger. But our goal was always to prepare them for the day when they would no longer need our help. And we were thrilled when we saw them experience that joy of freedom for the first time.

Learning to walk with our Heavenly Father is somewhat different. He wants us to reach up and take His hand, but He doesnt want us to ever let go. In fact, His desire is that we become more and more dependent upon Him for every step. Thats because He wants to take us to places weve never been. To heights we cant even imagine. In order to do that, we have to go through the low valleys, treacherous mountains, rough terrain, and narrow paths of lifeplaces where we could easily get lost or off the track. And there is definitely no way we can just head off on our own and expect to arrive safely in the place He has planned for us. And, quite opposite of the way we teach our children, we will