Martha Olawale

“Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes with the morning.” Psalm 30:5b

It was a long bus ride from Yobe to Lagos and as I stepped off the bus that afternoon, I was overwhelmed by the journey ahead of me. It was the end of college and the Youth Service program; the end to the life and routine I had grown accustomed to. There were no more lectures to attend or classmates to study with. No more government monthly allowances or stipends to live on. The world was ahead of me, and I had to face it or be drowned by it.

Although I’ve looked forward to completing college and fulfilling the mandatory program, I was left wondering what the future held for me. What is next? Would I get a job, get married? Would I be able to contribute positively to my world? I had many questions but had no one to ask but myself.

We all go through seasons of uncertainty at different points in life. Times when we are not sure what the answers to the million questions rambling in our minds are. Seasons when the dark tunnels feel endless, without hope in sight. It’s like a wilderness without trails or paths to follow and all we can do is just hold on to the invisible hands of our Savior and allow Him to guide us through the maze.

When God told Abram to leave his country in Genesis 12, for a land He would show him, one would think that since it was God who called him, the journey would be easy. However, Abram had to go through different tunnels to reach the promised land. He had to contend with the Canaanites, the Egyptians, his nephew, and Sodom and Gomorrah.

As a child of God, the challenges you are facing right now do not have to consume you. They are just tunnels to glory. Moses went through the wilderness before he became a deliverer; David tended the sheep and fought a Goliath before he became a king; Joseph was betrayed and sold to slavery before he managed the wealth of Egypt; Esther lived in a strange land before she became a queen who saved a nation; and ultimately, our Lord Jesus endured the cross before He redeemed the world.

Today, we call Abraham the father of faith because of his unwavering trust in God. He believed in God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness (Romans 4:3). It's about two decades since I stepped off that bus from Yobe and looking back, although I’ve gone through many tunnels since then, I’ve seen God’s glory shine on me at the end of each. He walks with us and cheers when we make it through. No matter how windy and dark, it has an end!