Yoder: A Sacred Journey

By Kathy Yoder

As the ashes trace across our foreheads and the words echo, “From ashes you came, and to ashes you will return,” we stand at the threshold of a sacred journey. One that is both very ancient and one that’s also brand new.

It’s a trek that all of us who call ourselves Christians must take. It’s not an easy journey. In fact, it takes a strength and stamina that we don’t possess. Not by ourselves. We must humble ourselves and recognize that it’s not an ordinary expedition like a trip to the grocery store. Or even a harder one like climbing a mountain. This journey is the most important and the most challenging trip of all. The journey to the cross.

This journey doesn’t begin on Ash Wednesday or even on Good Friday. It begins in the quiet moment when we sinners dare to lift our eyes to the Lord in humble surrender. We acknowledge who we are. It doesn’t matter what station we hold in life. We can be a senator. A carpenter. A teacher. A homeless person. A farmer or one of many different occupations in this world. All that matters is our relationship with Jesus.

As beloved children of God, we are called to walk this sacred path with courage, knowing that we do not travel alone. The journey to the cross is paved with moments of stumbling. Times when our strength falters, when the weight of our sin feels too heavy to bear. Yet, in those very moments, we are reminded of the words of the Apostle Paul: “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Corinthians 12:9). It’s not our might that sustains us, but the Lord’s. Each step we take, each tear we shed, becomes an offering, a fragrant surrender to the One who carried the cross before us.

I’m still on this journey to the cross. Every time I step out in faith to face something hard—like a fear I can’t shake or a task too big for me—I tremble, knowing I can’t do it alone. But then I look back. I see every moment the Lord has called me to a rugged path and walked beside me, His hand steadying mine.

Like the time I forgave when I wanted to hate. My heart clung to unforgiveness, birthing self-righteousness, pulling me toward a wider road with plenty of company. But the Lord called me elsewhere. He urged me to leave my hatred at the cross. One more step, He whispers. One more step toward the path He carved first for each of us.

And when I took that step, the hatred melted away. I felt His peace instead, and then, His love. Not just for me, but for the one who hurt me. A love I couldn’t muster alone. It was Jesus, guiding me further along this road, teaching me to love as He did. The reason He went to the cross, pouring out His life for us all.

Without Jesus our Savior, we are but dust. We are empty vessels longing for the breath of His grace. We kneel in the ashes of our confession, hearts open wide, and He meets us there, washing us clean with a forgiveness that ignites our souls. He takes our hearts, precious to him like fine jewels, and He cradles them in His never-ending arms.

Nothing is too much for Him. No one is beyond His grace.  Not the murderer. Not the adulterer. Not the older brother to the prodigal son. Not the woman filled with unrelenting hatred. Not the man who thinks only of himself and is out to get all he can in this world, living only for himself.

None of us is beyond redemption, unless we want to be.

We are changed. Transformed from a single unity existing merely for ourselves to a beloved and cherished child of God. And yet, this transformation is not the end, but the beginning. For Jesus calls us further, saying, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me” (Luke 9:23).

This is no passive journey. It demands our all. It demands our pride, our fears, our very lives laid down at the foot of the cross. But oh, what a privilege it is to walk where He has walked; to know that the ashes of our past are but the soil from which His mercy grows.

As our Lenten journey begins this week, let’s look to the past and remember all that the Lord has done for us. He willingly suffered and died on the cross for our sins. Let’s look to the present and be thankful for the Lord’s great love for us. It has no end.

And let’s look to the future as we continue this sacred journey to the cross. One day, we’ll join Jesus in heaven, where He waits for us, risen from the dead, victorious over death.

“And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us” (Ephesians 5:2).

Kathy Yoder is a devotional writer and Christian author. She is reachable at Kathyyoder4@gmail.com and Kathyyoder.com.