On we go!

An audiobook that helped pass hours of our drive home from Florida contained some gems to apply to this life of faith amid dark trials.

"When Bilbo opened his eyes, he wondered if he had; for it was just as dark as with them shut. No one was anywhere near him. Just imagine his fright! He could hear nothing, see nothing, and he could feel nothing except the stone of the floor.

... 'Go back?' he thought. 'No good at all! Go sideways? Impossible! Go forward? Only thing to do! On we go! So up he got, and trotted along with his little sword held in front of him and one hand feeling the wall, and his heart all of a patter and a pitter."

The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkein, chapter 5

Of course God's word has something to say about this as well!

"But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus." - Philippians 3:13-14

Let your eyes look directly forward, and your gaze be straight before you. Ponder the path of your feet; then all your ways will be sure. - Proverbs 4:25-26

And I am reminded of a bit from George MacDonald:

"And when she could no longer hope, she did not stand still but walked on in the dark. I think when the sun rises upon them, some people will be astonished to find how far they have got on in the dark."

The Lady's Confession, first published as Paul Faber