Stepping Stones Through the Slough

In John Bunyan's The Pilgrim's Progress, Christian's journey toward the Celestial City nearly ends before it truly begins. Just steps from the Wicket Gate, he stumbles into the Slough of Despond — a miry bog where doubts, fears, and discouragements collect like runoff. Weighed down by the burden on his back, Christian begins to sink. He flails. He nearly turns back.

Then a man named Help reaches out his hand and pulls him onto solid ground. Help explains that the King's laborers had laid stepping stones through the mire — the promises of God — but in his panic, Christian couldn't see them beneath the mud.

Bunyan wrote from experience. He penned those words from a Bedford jail cell, where he spent twelve years imprisoned for preaching without a license. He knew the slough. He knew the sinking. And he knew the stepping stones.

Every congregation has people knee-deep in their own mire this morning — grief, financial pressure, broken relationships, unanswered prayers. The path forward feels impossible. But the promises of the Almighty are still there beneath the surface. "I will never leave you nor forsake you." "My grace is sufficient for you."

Perseverance doesn't mean you never sink. It means you keep reaching for the stones God has already laid.