The Forest

the forest... I have wandered in the forest, I strayed from the path, into the leafy undergrowth chasing what I thought I saw there. As I chased that thing, that elusive thing, the creature of wonder and promise, I found it always eluded me. Too late did I understand that it was a lie, just a trick of the forest, there only to trap me. I had run after it because I had thought it to be all that is good but I found that it was nothing but a lie. Then the forest surrounded me and on all sides there was nothing but trees the green of their branches hiding any signs of the path or the rest of the world. The branches that seemed to part before me now catch me and seem to grip me to hold me in that forest that seemed so wonderful, now keeping me from the very things that I need to survive. There is nothing to help me, to give me strength to survive and to grow. I don't know where to go, how to make it out of the forest. Then I hear it, not so much with my ears as with my heart, the voice of Truth it calls me in this direction. I know because it is much different than anything I have heard in this forest, it isn't a lie. The forest is full of lies and traps but the truth pulls me onward and guides me, the forest gives way, it's lies powerless. Finally, I am back on the path. This is a path that starts in the middle of the forest, there is only one way to go. It is an easy path to follow and I know that it leads to where I truly desire. *sigh* As I follow that path I come to a fork. I ask Truth for guidance and I wait. It seems as I wait the forest is reaching out it's leafy fingers for me, trying again to trap me. I know that to walk without knowing the true path will only lead me into a trap again, so I trust Truth and know He will answer, He will lead me to what is truly wonderful. So in the knowledge that I am on the path I wait and the forest cannot reach try as it might.

Romans 8:35-39 (NLT)
Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death? (As the Scriptures say, “For your sake we are killed every day; we are being slaughtered like sheep.”) No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us. And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.