Detours. How I hate them. They take WAY longer than a normal route.
They cause confusion and frustration because I am no longer in a familiar place.
They create traffic which I H.A.T.E. with a passion.
Plus, there never
seems to be anyone actually working on the road that they are shutting down- so
why make us detour???
Pause there- if anyone out there works on the roadways; I
have two thoughts for you.
1st- I’m extremely thankful for you. Anytime I
drive one of the bridges by Sagemont that seem to be taller than a skyscraper,
I always have a moment of awe that the bridge could be built while
simultaneously experiencing a moment of terror that the bridge was built.
I’ve seen what happens to Lego towers when they’re not attached quite
right….
2nd- Could you please explain why it seems
permissible to put out "Road Closed" signs 6 ½ months before any human ever
starts to work on that road? Please tell me there’s a reason- if nothing else,
that it’s a plot to put the entire city of Houston into a traffic gridlock… oh
wait…Houston already is. I answered my own question.
Anyways...
Suffice it to say, I dislike detours.
And all that comes with them.
And all that comes with them.
I’ve recently talked
with friends who are job searching. I hear from friends who have surprising new
obstacles at work. I listen to friends who have encountered unforeseen trials.
I know friends who are in the middle of major life decisions. And the list goes
on and on…. Life’s
detours. How we hate them just like, (or most likely), more
than road detours.
I don’t know about
you, but I have my life plan and
goals. So when something happens that detours me off that plan, I’m NOT happy. Why should I be? The
plans are good. They aren't dishonoring to God…. And just like road detours,
life detours cause HUGE delays and are frustrating and confusing. So answer me
this, if my end goal is to work for a church and help further God’s kingdom,
why did I have to wait for 2 years after grad school until I arrived here? If I
wanted to be married, why did I have to wait until I’m 28 to find the right
man?
Or maybe your
questions sound like this…if I want to be a nurse overseas, why do I have to go
to nursing school and then work three
years in America first? If I want to teach 2nd grade, why do I have
to spend my first year teaching Kindergarten? If I simply want to find a job so
I can pay my bills, why have I been searching and applying for months without
any offers? If I want to have children, why am I infertile? If I love volleyball,
why can’t I make the school team?
We all have our
questions. We all have
experienced our road blocks… our detours to life’s goals. And most of us have
been confused. Maybe a little frustrated. Hurt. Annoyed. Angry. And weary…always weary of the detours…
Why do we have to get
caught in “life’s traffic” before arriving to our dream destination? Why do we
have to be pointed onto a new road, one of unfamiliar surroundings and
surprising twists & turns?
If we strip away the other questions, we are
left with this one simply query:
Why doesn’t God follow our plans... our “map”?
Reading it that way
makes me cringe a little.
Do I really want
God to follow my plans when He has so clearly told me:
Your eyes saw my
unformed substance;
in your book were written,
every one of them, the days that were formed for me,
when as yet there was one of them..*
in your book were written,
every one of them, the days that were formed for me,
when as yet there was one of them..*
For MY thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways MY ways, declares the Lord.
For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are MY ways higher than your ways and MY thoughts than your thoughts...**
neither are your ways MY ways, declares the Lord.
For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are MY ways higher than your ways and MY thoughts than your thoughts...**
YOU number my wanderings,
put my tears into Your bottle, are they not in Your book?...
This I know, because God is for me.***
put my tears into Your bottle, are they not in Your book?...
This I know, because God is for me.***
Hearing that God
has planned out my days before I was even
born, with plans that are immeasurably
higher than mine, I never have to doubt that He has led me down a closed
road. I never have to wonder if he sees
how many tears I cry on my detour…He has collected each teardrop. My “wanderings”
are numbered by Him…they are ordained by Him.
At the end of the day, I am learning to trust
that
My detour is actually the path.
How?
Because this I know…God is
for me.
* Ps.
139:16
** Is.
55:8-9
**Ps.
56:8-11
We heard a few weeks back about Plan A - my well thought out plan that seems to from time to time - duh - all too often leave me in the dirt and GODS Plan B where I ask that he lead and I follow - THANKFULLY. Seemed to make having a choice and making a choice easy and a lot less for me to worry about day to day. Now he's got me and it in his HAND! Leaving me to just take'n the easy road :) ...nuff said :)
ReplyDeleteYep! God's path/plan is usually a detour to our own tiny planned out path. But I'm glad, cus looking back on my life, if I were to have gone the way I wanted to - the way I had mapped out - I wouldn't be half the man God is making me out to be! I'm so grateful that He has a plan for my life! "For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord."
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