When We Realize He Was Walking With Us

The first Easter morning was full of wonder.

An empty tomb.
Angels with quiet messages of hope.
The astonishing truth that death had not held the Savior.

But one of my favorite resurrection stories happens later-on an ordinary road.

Two disciples were walking toward Emmaus, speaking softly about everything that had happened. Their hopes had been shaken. The world no longer made sense in the way it once had.

And then a stranger joined them on the road.

He walked beside them.
He listened to their confusion.
He gently opened the scriptures to them and helped them understand what had taken place.

They spoke with Him for miles and did not know who He was.

It was not until they sat down together and He broke the bread that their eyes were opened.

And suddenly they realized.

It had been Him all along.

Luke records their words in a way that always moves me:

“Did not our heart burn within us, while he talked with us by the way?”
- Luke 24:32

I sometimes wonder how many moments in our lives feel like that road.

We walk through days filled with questions.
We talk with friends.
We pray quietly.
We search the scriptures and try to understand what God is doing.

Often the answers are not immediate.

But sometimes, looking back, we realize something remarkable.

A conversation that came at just the right moment.
A scripture that seemed written exactly for the day we were living.
A quiet peace that settled over a troubled heart.

And we recognize that we were not walking alone after all.

The Savior had been walking beside us the whole way.

Perhaps that is one of the gentle gifts of the season after Easter.

It teaches us that the risen Christ is not only present in great miracles or sacred celebrations.

He is also present on quiet roads.

And sometimes we only realize it after our hearts begin to burn with understanding.

May you recognize Him walking beside you on the road.

- Eden