“It’s like solid rock,” my husband said as sweat poured down his back. With bright red faces, each of our teenage kids leaned on their shovels. They reminded me of the dog behind our neighbor’s fence who, tongue hanging, lay exhausted from wildly barking after we walked by. Septic work for getting a toilet into our traditional Romanian home (think no running water, packed earth floors, and way more mice than outlets) had begun.

That Romanian dirt: it never seemed to give. In fact, at times, almost everything about our life in that small village seemed desperately hard.

“But why do you call Me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do the things that I say? Whoever comes to Me, and hears My sayings and does them, I will show you whom he is like: he is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock…” Luke 6:46-48b.

Digging deep was strenuous, frustrating, and time consuming. With each effort, we trusted that eventually we’d see results. Our spiritual life felt the same way. Were we going to put His Word into action? For me, this meant doing the uncomfortable, such as immediate, Mark 1-type obedience “what Lord, you want me to visit her now?” It meant preaching to myself His truth (Mark 10:29) through the wonderful times (like those first hugs at the airport) and through the tears (like when those hugs inevitably lead to goodbyes). It meant letting Him show me my true motives, trying to yield my will to His (John 5:30), and trusting His voice over my own.  

No, I can’t say all of our labors in Romania led us to His Rock, but His presence was constantly near. Together we tackled the ground of our village and the hardness of my heart. He’s with you, too. Trust Him, and keep digging.