Have you ever taken a detour?
In December of 2019, my son and I were driving home from Destin, Florida after having spent Christmas there as a family. It’s a pretty long drive back to Alabama and when traffic comes to a complete halt, it’s easy to get frustrated and irritable sitting there, especially when you’re tired and just want to get home. After sitting still for what seemed like hours (I’m sure it had only been minutes), I noticed several cars passing to the right of me. I mentioned to my son those must be getting off the Interstate at the next exit to detour around what had brought us to a standstill. Having said that, I eased over into the right lane then proceeded to follow the rest of the cars to the next exit. My son was upset and wanted me to stay on the Interstate and just wait it out. However, I knew something he did not. I had programmed our home address into the GPS before leaving Florida. Even though we were back in Alabama and knew the way home from where we’d been stopped, I left it on just in case something like this happened. I had been in
similar situations before and I knew the GPS would eventually re-route us back onto the right path to get us home. My son doesn’t like sudden changes from the known path and he very clearly voiced his fear with my choice of doing so. After listening to him protest for several minutes, I turned to him and said, “I understand your fear and know you don’t like last minute change but you’re going to have to trust me. I know what I’m doing and we’ll be okay. God will see us safely home.”
Sudden or unexpected change can rock your world. If you’re a planner, you like your plan and know exactly how everything needs to go in order for that plan to work out. I know that to be true because I was the same way.
I had a plan. Once.
As a little girl, I used to play dress up in my mom’s clothes. Most of the time, I
pretended to be a beautiful princess locked up in a castle, waiting for the handsome knight on a white horse to come rescue me. He would face the enemy holding me captive and once my foe was defeated, my handsome knight would come to the tower, sweep me up into his arms, and carry me away to live happily ever after.
As I grew older, reality took the place of the knight and instead, I dreamed of a Christian man who just wanted to share life with me. One who cherished me. It’s all I ever wanted. I never dreamed of having a career or making lots of money. I only wanted to be married and have kids.
That was my plan.
Turns out, my plan for the long term didn’t exactly match God’s. His was quite different from mine. He was privy to details I knew nothing about. And, much like my son’s fearful protests about my detour off the Interstate, I spouted a few fearful protests when the life I’d known for three decades, suddenly took a detour of its own. But after listening to my protests, the Father whispered to me and said, “I understand your fear and know you don’t like last minute change but you’re going to have to trust Me. I know what I’m doing and you’ll be okay. I will see you safely home.”
As I sit here reflecting back on the past three years, I’ve come to realize that what I thought was a sudden, last minute change, clearly was not. God had been preparing me, as well as covering me, for a very long time, even though I wasn’t aware of it. It seemed very sudden when it happened but, had I seen it from God’s perspective, I would’ve known He had been working on my behalf for years and everything had just fallen into place.
When our lives detour from the path we thought we were on, it can be scary. Let’s face it. It can be earth shattering and sometimes, even heart-wrenching. When we realize the life plan we’d dreamed of and, perhaps even carefully thought out, suddenly ends, it’s difficult to come to terms with. Then the never-ending questions come and the heart-wrenching struggle to wrap your mind around what just happened, ensues.
God created all of us with a free will to choose our own path in life. When you’re married, surely you believe the path you and your spouse are walking together will go in the same direction. But, unfortunately, that isn’t always the case. I do not believe God made me suffer the pain of infidelity and divorce. It was the end result of my former spouse’s life choices. I know God knew it would happen and He knew it would be a devastating loss in my life but I also know, He allowed it to happen because He loves me. Yes, you read that right. I didn’t understand it at the time but I see it all so clearly now.
God is the Alpha and the Omega. He’s the beginning and the end. He sees the beginning and the end and everything that happens in between. He is Jehovah-El Roi, the God who sees. We never know what will be birthed from the situations and seasons that bring with them intense suffering, but that is when we have to keep our eyes on our Father and trust His heart. We must have faith.
“Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.”
~ Hebrews 11:1 ESV
This means no matter what we can see with our physical eyes, we believe and know God is at work in the unknown and will keep His word and His promises. We either trust Him or we don’t. We either look to Him and know He’s at work on our behalf or we choose to worry and fret over things we cannot control. It’s our choice.
I will never forget something my pastor in Alaska said in one of his many sermons 
on faith. He said, “We live from faith to faith to faith.” I’ve carried that thought with me these last 30 years and it’s never made more sense than it does now.
When we see God do something amazing in our lives, it gives us hope. We know that no one but He could’ve made it happen. Then something else out of our control happens and, once again, our faith is tested. Since we know what God has done for us previously, we turn our eyes, our heart, and our prayers to heaven, trusting our Father to work it out. And, once again, He does. This process makes our faith grow. And not only that, but faith and trust in His timing grows as well. That is the one thing that seems like the hardest part of growing in faith. I know God is in control and will work all things together for my good but when? We must learn to wait on and trust God’s timing as well.
I truly believe God wants us to grow into such a firm place in our faith, we don’t even question when unexpected events touch our lives. When they come, we know God allowed them for one reason or another so we trust and believe He has a plan and, in His perfect time, we will see victory.
God has shown me over and over that He keeps His word and His promises. One passage of scripture sums it up so much better than I. This is from the Amplified Version of God’s word.
“So will My word be which goes out of My mouth; It will not return to Me void (useless, without result), Without accomplishing what I desire, And without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it.”
~ Isaiah 55:11 AMP
WOW! Those are some powerful, powerful words!
Here is another.
“God is not human, that He should lie, not a human being, that He should change His mind. Does He speak and then not act? Does He promise and not fulfill?”
~ Numbers 23:19 NIV
Oh, how I love God’s word! It is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. (Psalm 119:105) Meaning, when I read it, it shows my feet which way to walk down the path He has prepared for me. It leads me in the right direction because it is TRUTH and LIGHT.
How can I not trust God with such powerful words from His heart to mine?
I know it sounds like an easy thing to accomplish but let me assure you, it is not. And if you’ve walked through a valley or two or have had a few wilderness experiences of your own, I know you agree. But that, my friend, is how we grow in our faith. Faith is achieved on the battlefield called life. It starts with a choice. It doesn’t just happen. I can testify to the truth of that because I’ve lived it.
When my world fell down around me, it seemingly caught me off guard. I was completely devastated but after a few days, stark reality set in. I knew I was facing a battle unlike anything I’d experienced in my life. And I had a choice to make. I could’ve chosen anger and blamed God for allowing my life to be torn apart or choose to surrender to whatever His plan was and trust Him. I’m so thankful I chose the latter and ran to Him! I had no idea where to start so I simply trusted God to be that Light on the path He had prepared for me to walk. And He was. Was I scared? I was absolutely terrified. You never know how strong you are until faced with a situation you have no control over. That might sound cliche’ but it’s true. For me, the choice was to trust in the God who had brought me to this 
crossroads and I completely surrendered to whatever He wanted. No matter what it was. I chose to live from faith to faith to faith. I know how it feels when His strength is perfected in my weakness. I know how it feels to be covered and carried by His grace. I know how it feels that when I am weak, then I am strong. (2 Corinthians 12:8-10). It’s frightening and freeing all at the same time.
For the past several days, I’ve been doing a lot of thinking, and inquiring of the Lord, as to how I got to where I am today. His response? “A lot of detours.”
When my dream of being a wife and mom became reality, I thought I had achieved everything God had in store for me. I was going to spend the rest of my life taking care of my family, watching my kids grow up, then my grandkids, and once reaching retirement age, grow old and gray with the man I vowed my life to. That was my plan. Oh, I dreamed of the perfect Hallmark version for my life and ended up with a Lifetime movie nightmare, all because of another person’s life choices.
You and I cannot control another person’s choices, even as much as we’d like to. God created every one of us with a free will and He won’t interfere. However, I do believe He sends warnings. He may speak to us through others who love us or He will speak to us directly through His word or His Spirit but the ultimate choice is ours.
God absolutely knew what was happening in my marriage even though I didn’t. In the 35 years I was married, He was at work in the unknown, changing situations and moving people around to keep me protected and from finding out until it was time for the truth to be revealed. It’s as simple as that. Like I said before, He is the Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End, so He knew the whole scenario and how it would play out. But, in the interim, God kept His hand over me and my kids. At the time it was happening, I had no idea what we were being protected from but God did. He was ever vigilant and kept us safe.
“A lot of detours.”
I have found that God can speak volumes in just a few words. When He whispered those four words into my heart, I knew exactly what He meant. He didn’t have to go into detail of everything we’ve walked through together because we both knew. That is the beauty of a life lived with Jesus. Once you’re His, He puts Himself, in the form of the Holy Spirit, into your heart. He physically takes up residence inside you! He lives in you! He becomes part of you! And you know what else? He. Never. Leaves! He is yours and you are His forever! He is your closest Friend and the One who loves you like no one else ever could! In the good times and the bad. In the celebrations and the heartbreak.
When I said God allowed the pain and agony of betrayal and divorce to touch my life because He loves me, it was exactly for that reason. He could no longer bear to see me suffer. He could no longer bear to allow my ex to get away with all the things he was doing behind my back. When God revealed the truth, it was like He ripped the bandaid off and everything spilled out all at once. It happened very quickly. I know, with all my heart, that was by design. God had that planned the whole time. My marriage ended in exactly the same manner as it began. I was engaged and married within four months and was divorced and delivered in the same amount of time. I don’t know why both events happened in like manner but I trust God does. Perhaps someday, He will tell me.
I said all of that to say this. All of the pain, the lies, the betrayal, the rejection, the abuse, and the abandonment I went through were all worth it because it made me who I am today and it brought me to a place with Jesus I wouldn’t trade for anything! I couldn’t have said that back in July of 2017 but I can say it now. Back then, the only thing I could muster out of my shattered heart was, “I choose You, Jesus, and I trust You.” That was it. A simple and short prayer and statement of faith was all it took for God to lead me in a different direction. And it changed my life. Oh, it hurt more than I can express and I still have moments when I cry over what happened but I know without a doubt, it happened out of love because God wanted better for me, my kids, and my grandkids.
There’s a beautiful scripture I have heard my entire life but it’s never been more precious to me than now.
“For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us.”
~ Romans 8:18 NASB
Nothing, absolutely nothing we go through in this world can even compare to what our life will be when we finally go home to be with Jesus. Our life here is momentary, a vapor, but our life with Jesus, is eternal.
Whenever I am wrestling with the hurtful and painful things others choose to do (or have done) to me, I have a choice to make. My flesh tells me to fight back and to be angry. But when my flesh wants to attack the one inflicting the pain, is that not doing and acting as they do? Does resorting to the very tactics they use against me, and those I love, change their heart or the situation at hand? The Spirit knows I already know the answers to these questions so, why do you suppose He asks them? He asks them to show me where my heart is. And, ultimately, where it should, and needs, to be.
No, this does not come easily. In fact, our flesh doesn’t want to hear it nor do it at all. As His children, we have the mind of Christ. And, if we have the mind of Christ, shouldn’t we have His heart as well? (1 Corinthians 2:16)
This doesn’t mean we allow others to walk all over us and treat us however they want. 
There must be boundaries set against those who seek to destroy us. Even Jesus drew a line in the sand. In the gospel of John, chapter 8, we read the story of the woman caught in the very act of adultery and was brought before Jesus and thrown down at His feet. The teachers of the law and the Pharisees demanded she be taken to the edge of the city and be stoned to death. But Jesus looked at them and said, “Let any one of you who is without sin, cast the first stone.” Then he stooped down and wrote in the sand. The bible doesn’t say what He wrote in the sand that day but, whatever it was, the crowd dispersed. Jesus had set a boundary and not one of them could cross it.
He alone knows how to fight our battles. He alone knows what it will take to win the war. He can do more with one breath or one touch of His finger, then we could do in a million protests over the injustice we’re feeling. He knows the manipulation being ravished on us and those we love. So, our greatest defense is to get on our knees and ask Him to fight our battles. We pray and war against the enemy, in the power He’s given us as His children, and we trust Him to take care of the rest. Personally, I have seen Him do many miraculous things and change the direction in the course of events in my life and all I could say was, “You’re the only One who could’ve done that, God!”
I memorized a scripture back in high school that has never left me and when faced with something I have no control over or a sudden change of plans, the Spirit gently reminds me of it.
“We can make our plans, but the final outcome is in God’s hands.” ~ Proverbs 16:1 TLB
I can make all the plans I want but since my heart and my life belong to Jesus, He has the right to detour me whenever He wants to. Even if it hurts. Even if it costs. I am His child and He is Sovereign. Now, if I dig my heels in and choose my own will and way, He will let me. But He is patient and long-suffering. He will wait until I’m finished asserting myself. Then He’ll gently whisper to my heart and I will instantly know how much time I’ve wasted trying to fix things on my own. And believe me when I say, I’ve tried it quite a few times and the end result is always the same. I mess things up and, once again, have to ask Him to put me back onto the right path and point me in the right direction, with Him in the lead.
My faith has been tested a lot over the past three years but it’s grown a lot as well. My protests to the “unfair” and “sudden changes” that life brings, are fewer and further between these days, and yet, I know I have so much more to learn from Him.
“My Child, I understand your fear and know you don’t like last minute change but you’re going to have to trust Me. I know what I’m doing and you’ll be okay. I will see you safely home.”
In this world we will have trouble. In this world we will have heartache. Jesus even told us we would. But He didn’t leave us without hope. He didn’t leave us without comfort.
“I have said these things to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.” ~ John 16:33 ESV
And that He did. He did overcome this world. He now sits at the right hand of the Father, making intercession for us, as His children. He loves us with an everlasting and unfathomable love. He knows what’s best for us and, if we will but trust Him and have faith in His word and His promises, He will faithfully guide and direct our path. It may not be the path we would choose but that’s where faith comes in.
What about you?
Do you trust Him no matter the cost?
Do you trust Him no matter where it may lead?
“Even if he walks away from you forever…do you choose Me?”
These are the very questions I was faced with.
And the answer to these questions changed my life.
What could be better than a journey into the unknown with Jesus.
In a different direction.
