Go for it, faith-filled traveler! || 向前走，满有信心的旅行者！

When I look at my calendar for the rest of this year, I have many question marks and hidden paths and I dare say barriers to moving forward. Recently I took all of these specific future hopes, dreams, uncertainties and barriers to the Lord in prayer asking Him – what is Your plan? How shall I face the barriers before me? I trust you, but what should I do?

我翻看着下半年的日历，内心涌现出许多疑问和暗路，以及看似前行路上的拦阻。最近我把所有这些具体的未来计划、梦想、不确定、困难都在Dao Gao中逐一带到Zhu面前，问祂-你的计划是什么？我该如何应对眼前的困难？我相信你，但我应该怎么做呢？

After my time of prayer, I wandered into my small library looking for something and my eye caught an old small book on the bookshelf. It was one of my grandmother’s personal devotional books entitled “Streams in the Desert” written in the year 1925. I have inherited from my grandmother many of these classic devotionals she so diligently read every day. They are precious to me because they are filled with her handwriting and underlined sentences. She had a habit of writing on the dated pages the important events in her life and her responses to what the Lord was saying to her through these Christian writings.

祷告之后，我进书房找东西，视线落在一本旧书上，这是我祖母的个人灵修书叫做《荒漠甘泉》，它出版于1925年。我从祖母那里继承了许多她每日孜孜不倦阅读的经典灵修书籍。我将它们视若珍宝，因为里面写满了祖母的笔记和标注。她习惯在日期旁边写下她生命中重大的事件，以及回应Zhu藉着这些Shu Lin刊物对她讲的话。

I called my grandmother, “Gram”. She was funny, encouraging, loving and faithful to the Lord. She loved to play her clarinet, harmonica, sing, dance, laugh, tell jokes, watch baseball, play games with us and study the Bible. She kept an extensive journal of all that the Holy Spirit revealed to her as she read His Word. Before she passed away, she photocopied her Bible study notes for us. She had a desire to pass down the treasures she discovered from the Word to the next generation.

我叫祖母“婆婆”, 她风趣、积极、有爱、向Zhu忠心。她爱吹单簧管、口琴；爱唱歌、跳舞、开口大笑、讲笑话、看棒球、和我们一起玩游戏和查经。她有一本厚厚的日记本,，在读shen话语时，会把圣灵给她的启示记录其中。在她离世之前，她把查经笔记复印了交给我们。她特别想把她从Shen话语里发现的宝藏传给下一代。

The day I told Gram I was going to move to another country to serve the Lord, she immediately responded by pumping her fist in the air and saying, “Go for it!” When I moved to China in 2008, she would call and cheerfully ask me, “How are things in Ch-Ch-Ch-China?” A few months after I moved to China, she passed away, moving on to her heavenly home. Though she is gone from this earthly life, she lives on with the Lord and who she was and what she did lives on in me. And, as I already wrote, many of her precious devotionals are on my bookshelf.

当我告诉婆婆我要去另一个国家侍奉Zhu，她立刻挥动拳头说：“去做吧！” 2008年我搬来中国，她会打电话给我并且欢快地问：“中国怎么样呀？” 在我搬来中国的几个月后，她去世回天家了。尽管她失去了属世的生命，但她与Zhu同活，并且将她的品格和人生经历都留在我生命里。正如我先前所说，她有许多珍贵的灵修书籍就摆在我的书架上。

So that day when I had questions about the uncertainties of my future, I grabbed Gram’s copy of “Streams in the Desert” off my bookshelf and said out loud, “What have you got to say to me, Gram?” On the cover of the 70-year-old book is a handwritten note from Gram that reads: “TRUST HIM!” I laughed and said, “OK, Lord, I only need to hear from you!” I opened the book to the reading for that day and my eyes filled with tears. Here is what I read:

所以当那天我心存许多关于未来的不确定时，我从书架上拿起婆婆的《荒漠甘泉》，大声说：“婆婆你会对我说什么呢？”在这本有70年历史的书籍封面上有婆婆手写的一句：“信靠祂！”我笑着说：“好的，Zhu，我只需要听到你的回应！” 我打开了书翻到当天的日期，泪水将我淹没。这是我读到的：

Streams in the Desert by Mrs. C. E. Cowman
July 2
荒漠甘泉 考门夫人
七月二日

“When thou goest, thy way shall be opened up before thee step by step.” Proverbs 4:12.
 你行走，脚步必不至狭窄；你奔跑，也不致跌倒。（箴4:12）

The Lord never builds a bridge of faith except under the feet of the faith-filled traveler. If he builds the bridge a rod ahead, it would not be a bridge of faith. That which is of sight is not of faith.

Shen从来不替我们预先建筑信心的桥梁，来等我们经过。他总是等我们走到那一步，才为我们开路，否则，也就不叫“信心的桥梁”了。眼见的不能算作信心。

There is a self-opening gate which is sometimes used in country roads. It stands fast and firm across the road as a traveler approaches it. If he stops before he gets to it, it will not open. But if he will drive right at it, his wagon wheels press the springs below the roadway, and the gate swings back to let him through. He must push right on at the closed gate, or it will continue to be closed.

花园大门旁有一种用作出口的小门。我们走近那门的时候，它连一条缝都不会开，就算我们在旁边站一整天，也不管用。可是，当我们走到门跟前，推动它，门上的机轮就会向左转动，这样，便为我们打开了出口。

This illustrates the way to pass every barrier on the road of duty. Whether it is a river, a gate, or a mountain, all the child of Jesus has to do is go for it. If it is a river, it will dry up when you put your feet in its waters. If it is a gate, it will fly open when you are near enough to it, and are still pushing on. If it is a mountain, it will be lifted up and cast into a sea when you come squarely up, without flinching, to where you thought it was.

走信心的道路也是如此。不管拦阻我们的是江河、是铜门，还是高山，我们只需大胆向前走。如果是江河，那当我们的脚一碰到水，江河就会变成干地；如果是铜门，那当我们向前推的时候，铜门便会自动打开；如果是高山，那当我们奋勇前进的时候，高山便会倒入海中。Just delete pause

Is there a Great barrier across your path of duty just now? Just go for it, in the name of the Lord and it won’t be there. -Henry Clay Trumbull

现在，有没有什么在路上拦阻你前进？你只要奉Zhu的名向前走，一切的拦阻都会冰消瓦解。 ——特朗布尔（Henry Clay Trumbull）

We sit and weep in vain. The voice of the almighty said, up and onward forevermore. Let us move on and step out boldly, though it may be into the night and we can scarcely see the way. The path will open as we progress, like the trail through the forest or the Alpine pass, which discloses but a few rods of its length from any single point of view. Press on! If necessary, we will find even the pillar of cloud and fire to mark our journey through the wilderness. There are guides and wayside Inns along the road. We will find food, clothes and friends at every stage of the journey, and as Rutherford so quaintly says , however matters go, the worst will be a tired traveler and a joyful and sweet welcome home.

我们徒然静坐流泪。至高者的声音说：起来向前。让我们刚强壮胆，也许前方是黑夜看不到方向。当我们行进时，路自会向我们打开，就像树林里的小路或者阿尔卑斯的山路，只有在几丈之内才会显明。继续向前！在必要时我们会看到云柱和火柱在旷野中为我们带路。路途中会有向导和沿途的旅馆，在每一站都有食物、衣服、朋友。正如卢瑟福巧妙地说到，最糟糕就是一位疲倦的旅行者和温暖欢乐的欢迎回家。

 

“I’m going by the upper road, for that still holds the sun,
I’m climbing through nights pastures where the starry rivers run.
If you should think to seek me in my old dark abode,
you will find this writing on the door, he’s on the upper road.”

“我在走上行之路，因那里日光同在，
我在黑夜里穿过星河鹭起的青草地。
如果你以为会在古老的住所找到我，
你只会在门上看到这句，他正在上行的路上。”

—

My Gram had underlined several sentences including, “Press on!” And she had written in the margin a response to the author’s question: “Is there a great barrier across your path of duty just now?” My Gram wrote, “Yes. Starting chemotherapy again 2007.”

婆婆划了许多句子比如：“继续向前！” 在一处作者提问：“现在，有没有什么在路上拦阻你前进?”的旁边，她写道：“有，2007年再次开始化疗。”

So today I will pump my fist in the air with Gram and with the Lord and say, “Let’s go for it!” I trust that any barrier will be moved by the Lord. Any uncertainty will be answered by Him and that as a faith-filled traveler, I will walk upon a bridge of faith, following the faith of my grandmother and so many who have gone before me.

所以今天我也在空中与Zhu和婆婆一起挥拳，“让我们向前走!” 我相信任何的拦阻都会被Zhu移开，任何的不确定都会被祂回应。做一个满有信心的旅行者，行走在信心的桥梁上，跟随着我祖母和诸多前人的信心而行。