當我還是小女孩時，母親將她孩提時心愛的一本兒童讀物拿給我看，好幫助我閱讀。我特別喜歡當中的一個故事，但沒有想到這個故事多年後，竟帶給我極深遠的影響。
那是關於一個小男孩的故事。小男孩拿著一支小鏟子，試圖清除家門前又深又厚的新雪。一位男士佇立在旁，並觀察了好一會兒，最後開口問道：「小朋友呀，你那麼小，怎麼可能完成這麼艱鉅的任務呢？」小男孩抬起頭，很有信心地回答：「我一點一點地挖，就可以完成呀！」回答完後，又埋頭繼續鏟雪。

在一次的挫敗中，上帝用這個故事喚醒了我。我記得很清楚，我內在的「成人」如此嘲笑我內心弱小的「孩童」說：「你那麼無能，怎麼可能爬上這麼高大的一座山呢？」此時，小男孩的回答成了我的回答：「我一步一步地爬，就可以爬到呀！」而我也靠著上帝，在許多小小的得勝之後，真的爬上了那座高山。

以色列進入應許之地前，遇到了重重難關，看似無法克服；然而，上帝並沒有要他們一次就過關斬將。

「滴水穿石」乃是得勝的秘訣。JEY


主不是一年一年，
也不是一天一天；
祂總是一步一步，
帶領我日日向前。Ryberg


腳不停步，上帝就會助你爬上高山。
*************************************************************************************
Little By Little!

March 2, 2005


Read:
Exodus 23:20-33


Little by little I will drive them out from before you, until you have increased, and you inherit the land. —Exodus 23:30


Bible In One Year: Deuteronomy 7-9

When I was a little girl, my mother gave me her prized "reader" to help me learn, just as it had helped her years earlier. I loved one particular story, never dreaming how much it would affect me years later.

It was about a little boy with a small shovel. He was trying to clear a pathway through deep, new-fallen snow in front of his house. A man paused to observe the child's enormous task. "Little boy," he inquired, "how can someone as small as you expect to finish a task as big as this?" The boy looked up and replied confidently, "Little by little, that's how!" And he continued shoveling.

God awakened in me the seed of that story at a time when I was recovering from a breakdown. I remember how my "adult" self taunted the weak "child" within me: "How can someone as inadequate as you expect to surmount so great a mountain as this?" That little boy's reply became my reply: "Little by little, that's how!" And I did overcome—by depending on God. But it was one small victory after another.

The obstacles facing Israel as they considered claiming the land God had promised them must have seemed insurmountable. But He didn't ask them to do it all at once.

"Little by little" is the strategy for victory. —Joanie Yoder


He does not lead me year by year,
Nor even day by day;
But step by step my path unfolds—
My Lord directs my way. —Ryberg

Trust God to move your mountain, but keep on climbing.