In my last blog, ” ‘Hope Is the First Dose’: Recovering from Massive Tragedy,” we walked alongside Dr. W. Lee Warren through the unthinkable tragedy of losing his son, and witnessed how his relationship with God became his lifeline back from despair. His story demonstrates that walking with God isn’t just a beautiful metaphor—it’s a literal sustaining force when life shatters around us.
One of Dr. Warren’s patients during the difficult days when life seemed unbearable was “Lucky Chuck.” Lucky Chuck’s story was one of the flotation devices that helped Dr. Warren keep his head above water as he struggled to find his way back to dynamic faith.
Here’s the story: Lucky Chuck and his wife Wanda had only one child during their marriage, and the child was stillborn. So they built their lives around each other on the Wyoming prairie. When Wanda developed cancer, Chuck was devastated. He told Dr. Warren that he almost lost his faith as he watched his wife suffer.
But Wanda had no intention of letting her husband give up on God. She told Chuck they were going to decide right then, while she was still alive, what they believed about God. “She told me,” Chuck recalled, “to decide He was good before she died and not to be getting all mad at Him when she was gone, because that would be when I needed Him most.”
Accepting Wanda’s Prescription
When Dr. Warren met Chuck, Wanda had died, but he was still working his cattle and calling himself “Lucky.” He still had his faith and a cheerful attitude. And when the doctor let him know he had a brain tumor, Chuck was still cheerful. He said he wasn’t going to waste his time and energy fighting the cancer. He was ready to see Wanda again, anyway. And he went home to the wind and the sunsets on the prairie where he met God in the first place.
In other words, Wanda’s prescription worked for Lucky Chuck. I have an idea it’s a good prescription for all of us. I’ve already posted one blog about our everyday relationship with God, “Our Walk with God: Rediscovering Humanity’s Purpose,” but, in honor of Lucky Chuck’s Wanda, let’s expand on it. And, while we’re at it, maybe we should keep reminding ourselves that the God who walks with us day by day is the same God who will be with us when the tsunami hits.
The Challenge of Ordinary Faith
Have you ever found that walking with God in ordinary life is harder than walking with Him in crisis? When tragedy strikes, we instinctively cry out to God. Our need is obvious, urgent, undeniable. But in the mundane moments—when we’re stuck in traffic, dealing with a difficult coworker, or trying to get dinner on the table while the kids are melting down—it’s easy to forget that God wants to be present in those moments too.
We have a tendency to compartmentalize our faith, saving God for Sunday mornings, bedtime prayers, and emergencies. But the biblical picture of walking with God suggests something far more integrated—a life where the invisible God becomes our constant companion, not just our crisis counselor.
The danger of routine is real. We can either let the rhythms of daily life deepen our awareness of God’s presence, or we can let them lull us into spiritual autopilot, going through the motions of life without ever really engaging with the One who created us to walk with Him.
What Walking with God Actually Looks Like
So what does it mean to walk with God on a Tuesday when nothing dramatic is happening, but everything feels overwhelming?
Morning awareness starts the journey. Before your feet hit the floor, before you check your phone, there’s a moment to acknowledge that you’re not facing this day alone. This isn’t about perfect quiet times or elaborate devotionals—it’s simply recognizing that the God who walked with Adam and Eve in the garden wants to walk with you through your schedule, your responsibilities, your challenges.
Conversational prayer transforms ordinary moments. Walking with God means talking with Him while you’re folding laundry, driving to work, or waiting in line at the grocery store. It’s not formal or fancy—it’s the ongoing dialogue of someone who knows they’re not alone. “God, help me be patient with my mother-in-law today.” “Lord, give me wisdom in this meeting.” “Thank you for this beautiful sunset.”
Scripture as compass provides daily guidance. When you’re walking with God, His Word becomes more than Sunday sermon material—it becomes your navigation system. That verse about being slow to anger suddenly applies to the way you respond when your spouse leaves dirty dishes in the sink again. The promise about God’s provision takes on new meaning when you’re looking at the monthly budget.
Recognizing His fingerprints changes how you see everything. Walking with God means developing eyes to see His hand in the small provisions, the unexpected encouragements, the ways He shows up in ordinary moments. The friend who calls just when you needed to hear a kind voice. The parking space that opens up when you’re running late. The way your child suddenly hugs you after a difficult day.
Walking with God in Specific Ordinary Challenges
Let me get practical about what this looks like in real life:
In difficult relationships, walking with God changes everything. Instead of responding from hurt or frustration, you learn to pause and ask, “How does God want me to handle this?” It doesn’t mean becoming a doormat, but it does mean letting His love and wisdom guide your responses. Walking with God gives you access to patience you don’t naturally possess and grace you can’t manufacture on your own.
In work and responsibility, your job becomes partnership with God. Whether you’re changing diapers, managing a team, or teaching students, walking with God means recognizing that your work matters to Him. You’re not just earning a paycheck—you’re serving as His hands and heart in whatever corner of the world He’s placed you.
In parenting struggles, God becomes your co-parent. When your teenager makes choices that break your heart, when your toddler has a meltdown in the store, when you feel like you’re failing at the most important job you’ll ever have—walking with God means remembering that He loves your children even more than you do, and He’s not finished with them yet.
In financial stress, walking with God transforms anxiety into trust. This doesn’t mean being foolish with money or expecting miraculous windfalls. It means making decisions from a place of faith rather than fear, remembering that the God who feeds the birds and clothes the flowers is aware of your needs and faithful to provide.
In health concerns, God’s presence brings peace to doctor visits and sleepless nights. Walking with God doesn’t guarantee perfect health, but it does provide a foundation of trust that holds steady even when your body doesn’t. He’s present in the waiting room, the test results, the treatment decisions.
The Fruit of Ordinary Walking
Here’s what happens when you consistently walk with God through ordinary days: your character slowly transforms. You become more patient, not because you try harder, but because you’re drawing from His patience. You become more generous, more forgiving, more hopeful—not through sheer willpower, but through regular exposure to His character.
The peace that comes from practiced awareness of God’s presence is different from circumstantial happiness. It’s the deep assurance that no matter what your day holds, you’re not facing it alone. Problems don’t disappear, but they lose their power to completely overwhelm you.
You develop what I call spiritual reflexes—turning to God becomes your natural response rather than your last resort. When stress hits, when decisions need to be made, when joy wants to be shared, your first instinct is to include God in the moment.
Perhaps most importantly, ordinary walking with God prepares you for extraordinary trials. The relationship you build in mundane moments becomes the foundation that holds when life gets genuinely difficult. Dr. Warren’s faith sustained him through tragedy partly because he had been walking with God long before that terrible phone call came.
Practical Starting Points
If you’re thinking, “This sounds wonderful, but I have no idea how to begin,” let me offer some simple starting points:
Begin each day with one sentence acknowledging God’s presence: “Good morning, Lord. I’m grateful to walk with You today.” End each day the same way: “Thank you, God, for being with me today.”
Practice breath prayers throughout your day—simple, short conversations with God that take no extra time: “Help me, Lord.” “Thank you, God.” “I love you, Father.”
Choose one routine activity—washing dishes, commuting to work, exercising—and use it as a time to talk with God or listen to worship music or scripture.
Look for one way each day that God showed up—a kindness received, a need met, a moment of beauty—and thank Him for it.
The difference between religious ritual and relational walking is simple: ritual is about performance, but relationship is about presence. You don’t have to be perfect at this. You don’t need to have it all figured out. Walking with God is learned, not perfected.
And if you’ve gotten off track, if you’ve been trying to handle life on your own, today is a perfect day to restart. God isn’t keeping score of your failures. He’s simply waiting for you to take His hand and start walking again.
The Invitation to Walk
Walking with God isn’t reserved for biblical heroes like Enoch and Noah, or modern saints like Dr. Warren. It’s not for people who have their lives perfectly together or their theology completely figured out. It’s for ordinary people facing ordinary challenges who recognize they weren’t meant to walk through life alone.
The God who created you for relationship is present right now, in this moment, wherever you’re reading this. He’s aware of the stress you’re carrying, the decisions you’re facing, the ordinary struggles that feel overwhelming. He’s not waiting for you to get your act together before He’ll walk with you—He wants to walk with you so you can get your act together.
This is the beautiful reality of walking with God: it transforms ordinary days into sacred journeys, routine moments into divine encounters, and overwhelming challenges into opportunities to experience His faithfulness.
The invitation is simple and profound: Will you walk with Him? Not just in crisis, not just on Sundays, but in the beautiful, difficult, ordinary adventure of being human?
He’s already taken the first step toward you. All that’s left is for you to start walking.
***
In order to walk with God, you must be in relationship with Him. Specifically, you must be His child. If you need to take this first step toward the Almighty Creator of the universe, please check out my blog, “Highway to Heaven,” to find out how you can join His family.
Also, you need to think about the fact that we can’t be in relationship with (walk with) someone unless we know them. And the only way to KNOW God is through His Word, the Bible. We don’t develop a deep, intimate relationship with humans in a day, a week, or a month. The same is true of God. So, “walking with God” requires consistent, committed study of the Bible.
In case you don’t already know it, the more you study the Bible, the more you’ll be amazed at its depth and at the beauty and majesty of the God revealed in it. But if you’re new to Bible study, I would like to recommend my book, which I present in my blog “Discover the Essence of the Bible in Just One Sitting with ‘The Bible in Brief‘.”
If you decide to purchase The Bible in Brief, it will introduce you to the basic story of the Bible. Once you have “the big picture” in mind, you will be better prepared to understand sermons and other teachings. And you’ll be ready to deepen your own study of the Bible.
My Walking with God Series
“A Precious Promise: God’s Greatest Gift” – God’s sweetest gift to humanity is Himself.
“Our Walk with God: Rediscovering Humanity’s Purpose” – a follow-up to the previous blog, describing the incomparable wonder of walking with God
” ‘Hope Is the First Dose’: Recovering from Massive Tragedy” – a neurosurgeon’s story of loss, despair, and gradual, painful recovery
“When Walking with God Looks Like Washing Dishes” – this blog
“When Walking with God Becomes Rewriting God: The Deconstruction Detour” – tragically, sometimes, instead of walking WITH God, people walk AWAY from Him
“Walking with the True God: Navigating the Sacred Path Without Losing Your Way” – when our zeal for God overflows, we must be sure we are walking with the true God, not a deceiving spirit
Here are links to my blog indexes, so please click one and keep reading!
My Books, Workbooks, and Fun Books
Knowing the Unknowable One
Opening the Treasure Chest
Walking Heart-to-Heart with God
Walking Heart-to-Heart with Each Other
Fighting the Good Fight of Faith
Christian Mysteries: Why I Love Them!
List of Some Nonfiction Books You Don’t Want to Miss
Index of Assorted Topics