Handled or led?

"How has God handled me throughout my life? Has he handled me or led me? Pushed me or asked me to follow? Angrily forced me or gone before me? He has never asked me to go someplace he has not gone first. As a child, God showed up first. In my pain, God suffered too. During trials and transitions, God carried most of the weight. In various deaths, Jesus knelt first in tears. He suffered first. He doesn't ask me to do something He has not agreed to do first. He is my heavenly cup bearer, tasting all I must walk through first before inviting me in. He invites me to places where He is first, not to places he is unwilling to go. Where I go he is also going and goes first. His rod and staff comfort me. He goes before me and will be with me."

                                                           - Joel Howard