Walking with Jesus

Michelle Nunn shares how getting out for a walk is one of her most rewarding spiritual disciplines

Recently, I walked down a familiar path I hadn’t visited for a while. As I went on my way, I was reminded of an unusual experience that happened prior to the pandemic.

Strolling along the path, I remember contemplating communion, thinking about what I was going to say on the following Sunday. As I did this I was stopped in my tracks, as immediately a piece of bread literally dropped out of the sky onto the path, landing at my feet. I looked down at the bread, and then up to see a magpie sitting on an overhanging branch!

This experience spoke to me and my preparations for communion and, as often happens with revelation, there was more. A week or so later I shared my strange experience with a fellow minister, and he gave further prophetic interpretation.

Walking is one of my most valued spiritual disciplines. The rewards of a good walk have been the gentle whispers of the Holy Spirit and revelation as I have been un-busily present amidst God’s creation. I have learned that walking is a particularly good way to quiet my mind.

In demanding times, and particularly during Covid, I found the habit of taking a day out to walk essential. When I was living in Nantwich, I would go walking with Jesus. I would get a lift to the nearby village of Audlem and walk the seven miles back home along the canal and across the fields.

I’d start my walks by getting supplies from the local Co-op and a simple prayer, then set off with a mind overloaded with concerns, busy with the challenges of family life and ministry, with my own or often other people’s discouragement or distress. As I walked there was space for those busy thoughts to surface and be churned over in internal chatter and prayer. Sometimes a resolution surfaced but most often it was simply the gift of renewed peace and confidence in God despite it all.

There would be a moment on my walk when the busyness of my mind would completely dissipate, and I would feel free to enjoy the present moment. For me, this is how I have best experienced the powerful words of the psalmist, “Be still and know that I am God,” and appreciated the confidence he has in God despite the turmoil of the trouble and strife of biblical life (Psalm 46:10).

Some of my longest walks with Jesus have also been with my husband, Brendan. Years ago, we walked the Two Saints Way together, 15 miles each day through varied terrain: lengthy canals and open farmland, passing through rural villages, market towns, land given over to industry, urban housing estates, retail parks, woodland and forests.

Like on our inter-railing trips in the 90s we learned to flex to circumstance. Different terrains demanded different walking rhythms and expectations for the day. Completing the 92-mile walk from Chester Cathedral to Lichfield Cathedral in six days we learned the importance of adaptability, being present to enjoy the journey and keeping the end in sight. We prayed, talked, got frustrated about maps and satellite directions yet found renewed energy and peace despite five days of walking in the heat of the hottest week of the year, rounded off by a sixth day in a torrential downpour that lasted almost the entire day! Time together, walking with Jesus, was good for our relationship but even better for our souls.

Having changed roles from church minister to Principal of Elim’s Bible college my mind is no less busy, and I still find walking with Jesus, on my own or with friends, a rewarding spiritual discipline. The terrain may be different in the Malvern Hills to the floodplains of Cheshire, but the impact of walking with Jesus is a constant. The blessings are so rich – a mind freed from care and worry through conversation with God, and a renewed sense of confidence that, even in desperate times, God is present and working it all out for our good (Romans 8:28).

This article first appeared in Direction Magazine. For further details, please click here.