"looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith"
Hebrews 12:2
If you've ever walked through deep snow, you know the gift of footprints. Someone went ahead of you. They broke the crust, sank to their knees, and found where the ground was solid. All you have to do is step where they stepped.
It's still hard walking. Your legs still burn. But you aren't guessing anymore.
Grief can feel like snow up to your knees with no tracks ahead at all.
No one you know has walked this exact road. Not your friends whose husbands are still beside them. Not even your children, who lost their dad, but not their husband.
Some mornings you can't even tell where the path is supposed to be.
In Hebrews 12, the writer tells tired believers to keep going, "looking to Jesus." Then he gives Jesus a title I love. He calls Him the founder of our faith. The Greek word is archēgos. It describes a leader who goes first and opens the way for others to follow.
A trailblazer.
Jesus never sends you down a road He refused to walk. In John 11, He stood at His friend Lazarus's grave and wept. He knew what it was to have death take someone He loved. Later He walked the hardest road there is, all the way through the cross and out the other side of the grave.
Hebrews 2:10 says God made the founder of our salvation "perfect through suffering." He knows this terrain.
And here is the grace in it. He didn't go first and leave you to catch up. The same verse calls Him the perfecter of your faith. The One who started it is the One who will finish it.
You don't have to break the trail.
You don't have to find the solid ground.
You just have to step where He stepped.
And on the days you can't take a single step, Isaiah 40:29 says, "He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength." He doesn't stand at the finish line with His arms crossed. He comes back for you.
If you're not sure what you believe about Jesus yet, that's okay. He is still the One who went first, and the door is open whenever you'd like to know Him personally.
Try tomorrow morning
In that first quiet moment after you wake, before the day rushes in, whisper just four words: "Jesus, You went first." Then take the next small step, whatever it is. Coffee. Slippers. The window shade.
If you'd like to walk a little further into Hebrews 12, I wrote more about it in The race you never signed up for: how to keep going after losing your husband.
The snow may still be deep where you are. But look down.
There are footprints.
Run the straight race thro' God's good grace;
Lift up thine eyes and seek His face.
Life with its way before us lies;
Christ is the Path and Christ the Prize.
John S. B. Monsell, 1863
You are not breaking this trail alone.
Blessings, Pastor Howard
Know a widow who needs this today?
Sometimes the kindest thing is a quiet "I thought of you."
What small step did you take today, even if it felt tiny?
Getting dressed counts. Opening the curtains counts. Tell me in the comments below. I read every comment, and your words might help another widow feel less alone.