One night a man had a dream.
He dreamed he was walking along the beach with the Lord.
Across the dark sky flashed scenes from his life.
For each scene, he noticed two sets of footprints in the sand,
One belonging to him and the other to the Lord.
After the last scene of his life flashed before him,
he looked back at the footprints in the sand.
He noticed that at many times along the path of his life,
especially at the very lowest and saddest times,
there was only one set of footprints.
This really troubled him, so he asked the Lord about it.
"Lord, you said once I decided to follow you,
You'd walk with me all the way.
But I noticed that during the saddest and most troublesome times of my life,
there was only one set of footprints.
I don't understand why, when I needed you the most, you would leave me."
He whispered, "My precious child, I love you and will never leave you.
During your trial and suffering,
When you saw only one set of footprints,
It was then that I carried you."
This poem was first shown to me when I was about 11 years old. Going through a particularly difficult time, a teacher give me this poem and told me to read it and remember that I was never alone and there was someone to always help me through my hardest times. Not really understanding fully what the poem meant or if it would really help me, I kept it. I pinned it next to my bed and would read it before I went to sleep.
Being educated at a catholic school we were always taught that God would always be by our sides. I always thought it was very comforting to think that, that when a baby was born it was christened and the child would almost have a protective blanket over it for the rest of their life. When a person died they went to a beautiful place called heaven where they were safe and happy forever. As I grew older, like most teenagers, we question it all, why would bad things happen if there was a God? Why would some people suffer with stress, anxiety and worry if there was a God?
As time goes on and life continues, my life unfolded. Have you ever noticed life is like the butterfly effect, that one little decision you make can change your whole life? I noticed a decision that I made when a was 16 years old ended up completely changing my life, if I hadn’t changed my mind at the last minute, I would have never met any of the incredible friends I know today, I would never have met and married my amazing husband, which in turn my sister would have never met her husband…it’s like a ripple effect. Can it be possible that something higher than us all is giving us a gentle nudge in the right direction? To always keep us on the right track? Even when the tough times happen are they meant to make us the people we are today. If you hadn’t gone through that trauma, or changed your mind about something at the last minute would you be the person you are today? Would you know and love the people who are around you today if you hadn’t made the decisions you did? Or do you think fate would have taken over anyway and you would have ended up on this exact path.
I think what I’m trying to say is that no matter what we worry or stress about we are always ok. We always seem to end up exactly where we need to be. So maybe we just need to stop overthinking and just believe that someone is already taking care of it. You may not believe much in the way of a God or a higher being, I don’t know how much I believe either and still can’t answer all the questions I have, I don’t think anyone ever can. But what I do believe is when we are at our lowest and saddest points in our life there will always be someone who will pick us up and carry us through it. This person can take many forms, a parent, friend or partner, or it could even be a passed loved one or your guardian angel.
I now know this poem off by heart and still have the copy my teacher gave me 18 years ago. I still love to read it and it still gives me comfort. So really I just wanted to share it with you. If you ever feel sad or alone remember when you look back in the sand and there was just the one set of footprints it was then that you were carried.
Don’t worry you will never be alone and you’ll always be ok. :-)
Smile.
Love Faye x x x
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