The Land of Narnia - Part 2

Click here to read Part 1.

While Zach is thoroughly enjoying listening to The Chronicles of Narnia and dreaming of battles and knights, I believe that I have benefited far more from the stories this time around.

As an adult, having now experienced more of what it means to live as a Christian in this world, I am ever more grateful for C. S. Lewis and these words he has written.  As I listen to The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, my heart grasps, even just a bit more, the depth of the pain and sorrow that Jesus experienced as He gave His life for me.  I am filled with gratefulness that while my traitorous self ran from Jesus, pursuing the things of this world, my Savior pursued me, saved me from my sin, and gave His own life to purchase me forevermore.

When I hear the words from Prince Caspian, I am again reminded that I am called to follow Jesus even when I do not see Him or understand why He is leading me in a direction that seems intuitively to make no sense.  I am called to follow Him even when others around me do not do the same.  And, I recall that Jesus does not always show Himself as He has in the past.  I am not to expect that He will always step in and mightily save the day, although I know that He can. Sometimes He calls me to trust Him and follow Him and believe He is there even when I cannot see Him and do not understand His plan.

Then I listen to The Voyage of the Dawntreader and my longing for Heaven only grows deeper. As I step farther into the book, with each turn of the page, my anticipation of Aslan's country only increases.  Great risks must be taken and great trials experienced, with much perseverance, but oh how great the joy when we finally reach the end of our journey.  How I long for the day when I will see my Savior, the Lamb of God, and fall at His feet to worship Him.  Then there will be only joy.  All my tears will be washed away, and there will be no more pain or suffering.

But my favorite of all the books in this series is The Horse and His Boy.  I have never been able to put my finger on why, but ever since I was a young girl I have been drawn back to this story time and time again.  This week as I listened to the dramatization of this book, the words have grabbed hold of my soul once again.  While we are walking through trials, we do not know why the Lord has called us to go through them.  Often we do not see how there can possibly be any good that can come from them.  Many times when our circumstances seem to be at their very worst, we question how God could even permit these things to happen to us at all if He truly loves us.

Unlike with the hero of this story, God often does not answer our questions and explain His reasons to us in this life.  When we are feeling sorry for ourselves, we do not have the opportunity to tell God that we are indeed the most unfortunate person in the whole world and then have Him show us how He has orchestrated every circumstance in our entire life, though possibly painful at the time, to work for our eventual and eternal good.  But this book reminds me that even though I cannot always see it, God truly is working all things for good in my life.

And we know that for those who love God all things to work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.  For those whom he foreknew he also called predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son....  Romans 8:28-32