A couple of weeks ago, Belle and I were reading a chapter from George MacDonald’s The Princess and the Goblin. The Princess was following a fine thread attached to the magical ring her mysterious grandmother had given her. This thread took her through winding passages deep inside a mountain but eventually ended at an impenetrable wall. It’s a moving scene as she realizes the thread behind her has disappeared, and she can’t even retrace her steps. There is no way back and no apparent way forward, and she throws herself down in front of the heap of stones, wailing.

…the thread…vanished through the heap of stones, and left her standing on it, with her face to the solid rock. For one terrible moment she felt as if her grandmother had forsaken her…the thread had brought her into a horrible cavern, and there left her! She was forsaken indeed!

(from The Princess and the Goblin by George MacDonald)

Timna Park (Eilat, Israel)

It made me think of those times in life when we encounter what seems like an impossible obstacle in our path. Maybe we’ve hit a “wall” in our own personal growth or we’re losing hope for a particular situation or relationship. It’s tempting in those moments to believe the lie that it’s impossible to move forward another inch. I mean, there’s the wall. We can’t get over it or under it or around it. We can’t just magically wish it away or ignore it or pretend it’s not really there. It is impossible, isn’t it? Yes. So many things are impossible for us. But Jesus said what is impossible for us is possible for God. With God ALL THINGS ARE POSSIBLE!

Sometimes He’s gracious enough to come charging in and smash through that wall in a blaze of glory. Praise God that deliverance can come quickly. But other times, like the Princess discovered, after weeping for awhile, we eventually discover a tiny pebble that we can pry out of our wall. Then another. And another. And bit by bit, a way is made where there seemed to be no way.

Maybe you’re standing in front of an impossible obstacle right now. Trust God’s timing. Be open to the lessons He wants to teach you while you wait and wonder and weep. Someday, in some way, He will bring us to the other side of our impossible things. How it would thrill His heart if we could learn to praise Him for His promises, even before He’s levelled the wall or before we find that first loose stone!