The Traveling Companion

She's been here before. The desert.  Last time she got to go back.  This time there will be no turning back.  Here to stay.  To wander in the desert.  Last time she carried a hidden child.  This time he is a young boy that she can't bear to see die.  Someone else is seeing.  Watching her and the child.  He hears, too.  The cry of the boy.  He doesn't move them out of the desert.  He, El Roi, moves in. {Genesis 21:8-21}

We all have a cross to bear.  Mine is heavy. Hagar's was. Yours is too. Hagar carried being a single mom raising a child in the desert. There are too many crosses to count. Physical pain. Terminal illness. Rejection.  Depression. Anxiety. Losing in love. Failure in friendship. Sin's aftermath. Want to add yours to the list?

I have taken a lot of trips over the years. Trips to see the White House.  Trips to grandma's house. Trips to family reunions. Trips abroad.  Argentina  Uruguay. Paraguay. Brazil. Trips to the hospital. Trips to the store too many to count.  Guilt trips.  A trip or two down memory lane.  But the hardest trip I ever took is the one in which I carried my cross.

That is when God moved in.

"What is the matter, Hagar? Do not be afraid; God has heard the boy crying as he lies there. Lift the boy up and take him by the hand, for I will make him into a great nation"...God was with the boy as he grew up. {Genesis 21:17, 18, 20}

Sometimes God doesn't lift the cross off our back.  Sometimes it remains like Hagar and Ishmael in the desert. There is assurance that when we carry our cross, He carries us.  A true traveling companion. One that walks with us in the pain. We may think we walk the road alone with our burden heavy on our back, but that is when He moves in, stays close, and carries the cross.

{The concept of "God moving in" comes from the Bible study Broken and Blessed: How God Used One Imperfect Family to Change the World (affiliate link).}

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