The Detour

How many times have you driven down a road, in a hurry to get to your destination and run into one of these signs? Regardless of where it is you were going, having to go out of your way is sure to set you back. It will leave you frustrated and possibly wreak havoc on the rest of your daily schedule. This could really be a problem if the detour ends and your smack dab in the middle of nowhere without a GPS or a map. In terms of driving, yes this is just one of those minor inconveniences that you will soon get over as the week progresses.

What about the detour that takes your entire life in a different direction? Have you ever had a set destination in mind and found yourself at a roadblock, facing a detour sign that not only causes a momentary frustration but life altering heartache? All of us have had our share of them. You had a set plan, an ideal situation for your life, your future, your family and suddenly your world comes to a standstill. You sit staring blankly at the detour sign saying where do I go from here? Maybe the new way is not mapped out for you and you feel lost and alone with the unfamiliar path ahead. Navigating from this place is frightening and may leave you hopeless that you will ever find your way back to a normal route.

BEING DETOURED IS NOT THE END OF THE ROAD, JUST THE END OF THE ROAD THAT YOU MAPPED OUT.

As I was thinking about his today, I was reminded of the story of Joseph (Genesis 37-47). If there was ever a young man who spent his entire life going from one detour to another it was him. The youngest and most cherished son of Jacob; Joseph was known as the dreamer. God had given Joseph dreams that he would one day rule over his family. As a parent, I am sure that Jacob had dreams for his favorite son as well. He even fashioned a special jacket just for Joseph that was the envy of all his brothers.

Joseph’s dream was about to take a serious detour one day as he set out on a road. He had a short destination in mind. He was told to go check on brothers who were out grazing their flocks. Joseph walked down the road, most likely daydreaming of all that he would one day become. He assumed, I am sure, that since his dream was given to him by God, the road would be easy and his life would be great. Little did he know that just ahead on the road to easy street lay a detour sign.

Joseph was thrown into a pit by those jealous brothers, most wanting to leave him to die a horrible death, the others deciding it was better to profit from his disappearance, selling him into slavery. At least he ends up in Potiphar’s house. He quickly finds favor with his Egyptian Master and is promoted to an attendant. Not the dream he envisioned, not the road he had mapped out. He would  have to navigate differently in this new life. This unplanned life. This detoured life.

Joseph was finally settling in when the road to his destination took another unplanned detour. This time he was wrongly accused of a crime. He is soon thrown out of Potiphar’s house and into a cell. As he tossed and turned in the concrete place he now called home, his dreams probably looked a little different, a little darker, a little jaded and defiantly a little less optimistic.

Of course after spending years in that prison cell, Joseph is finally brought before the king and after interpreting his dreams is given charge over all of Egypt. This place of leadership allows him to save the people of the land, including those that had wronged him, his family. Joseph found the power to forgive not because his life was good or perfect but because the road he traveled was hard and uncertain.

Sometimes it is on the difficult path that God will cause the most growth in your life. This path may be the one you didn’t plan to take, it may not be the most traveled path, it may be a hard path, and it may not be the popular path. Others may not understand, or agree with the path you have taken. Others may look down on you when they see you walking along your lonely road. They may ridicule you, reject you or slander your good name. However, if God is leading you can trust that the road, no matter how difficult it becomes, will lead to a destiny of enteral love. A kingdom destination where neither moth or rust can destroy; where no thief can come in and steal…your treasure, your peace, your joy, your hope, your love, your destiny.

There has never been a time in my life where the story of Joseph has ministered to me so much. I can relate to his rough road. Since my childhood, I had dreams. I had dreams of being loved unconditionally, laughing uncontrollably, and trusting unreservedly. My dream took a detour after my first encounter with the monster who would take away my preschool innocence. My life took a detour into fear, mistrust, and parked along the roads of low self-worth and depression. I traveled years through the back roads of addiction and rebellion. However, it was upon these roads that I developed my great need for God. During the course of my drive, He planted in me gifts that I would never had found upon the road most traveled. It was here that I found deep compassion and empathy for those that were hurting. I felt the love of God towards those who were battling addition and rebellion leading me to the ministry of women in prison. I developed the protective heart of a shepherd for children; this would lead to years of ministering to children who like me faced their own monsters.

My life has changed drastically since that first detour and I began to dream again, new dreams. Dreams for my children. My marriage. My ministry. Until over the last two years, my life took an unexpected turn. The mission field I dreamt of did not take place within the walls of my own home. I would have to use the skills I developed over the years to walk beside my own family. For my child who battles addiction. For my other child who battles for peace with the past. For my grandchild whose bonds have been broken. Alongside my spouse, who lost his ability to provide for his family. I had to leave the pulpit to minister at home. I found myself at the crossroad of kneel alone and pray. Here I began to fight against the waging war that I did not see coming on the road to my dreams.

Today, as I read the passages in Genesis, I am encouraged. I realize that dreams given to us from God are not always found on easy street. Sometimes God will call us off-road, down an unmarked path. I have learned that the destination is no longer my goal, but it is the journey that God wants us to find our peace. Sometimes you will have to learn to live with a new normal, a new road. Life is not an open freeway, it is more complicated and often unmapped.  Can you navigate past the roadblock and find peace even if you end up where you never thought you would be? Today, if you find yourself sitting at a roadblock don’t just shut off the engine and refuse to move forward.   God may need you to take this detour to develop in you something that cannot be found on the easy road. Trust Him to lead and I can guarantee that you will never be alone.

I Got This!

My 2 year old grandchild is often a teaching tool in my life. Her vibrant little personality is just the right combination; the heart of a servant and the tenacity of a mule. I guess you could say that the reason she is often the muse of my times of reflection is because she reminds me so much of myself.

I watched her today as we were carrying in the groceries, so determined to be a “big girl” and help with the task. I picked up the gallon of milk, “here”, she says, “I will get that”. I laughed looking down at this two foot, 20 pound child. “Thank you honey, but this is too heavy for you, I will carry it”.

"It is not too heavy”, she says. Then flashes me her arms and says, “see I got mush-ells” .

“Wow”, look at those “mush-ells”, I reply amused by the determined little eyes looking up at me.

“Please”, she begs. “I wanna do it”.

Not wanting to crush her little spirit of purpose, I hand her the milk.  I then stand back and hold back my laughter as she grasps the handle with her two tiny little hands and drags it up the lawn towards the house. I listen as she lets out little grunts along the way. “This is heavy”, she notes.

“Do you want me to carry it”, I offer.

“Ugh, no I got it”, she says as she stops to get a better grip. She makes it all the way to the steps leading up to the front porch and tries to lift the milk up onto the first step. The milk jug is too heavy for her to lift above her waist to reach the stair. I watch as she is swinging it, rocking back and forth on each foot, going up and down on tip toe and then sets it back down on the ground. “It’s too heavy for me”, she finally admits. I smile as I reach down and pick up the milk. “Here”, I tell her. “Let me help you”. I then reach down take her hand in mine and we walk up the stairs together. She looks up at me with those brilliant blue eyes and smiles, “Thank you”, she says.

Yes, she is so much like me. I often find myself in this same scenario. Try to carry much more than I am capable or equipped to carry.  God walking right beside me saying, “Child, this is too heavy for you, why don’t you set it down and I will carry it the rest of the way”. Stubborn thing that I am, “No, I got this God”. See my “mush-ells”? I don’t need your help; I am very capable of managing on my own! No, really God, I know that for you this burden would be light, but I don’t want to admit that I am too weak.  And so, I walk on, dragging and grunting under the weight, weary and tired.

Maybe you too, find yourself in this place tonight. Maybe you are carrying a load that is just too heavy for you. Maybe you are carrying the weight of a physical or emotional illness either yours or someone you love. Is it a financial burden that is pressing you from every side? A bad relationship?There are those of us who have a loved one making bad life choices. As a parent we may want to life the burden for them. We often times try to cover, conceal or pick up the slack, believing in our hearts that we are helping.

Some of you are carrying things that God never asked for you to carry. Maybe it is a job, a ministry, an expectation from others to go or do something.  How often do we try to do more than we are willing to admit is too much? We are too afraid to say NO. We add more and more to our daily planners thinking that the more we do, the more we will be accepted and loved. Living a life like this comes with a heavy price tag. The emotional, physical exhaustion of carrying this load will leave you empty and void of a relationship with God. He will end up being the one person you have no time for at the end of the day.

My friends, tonight, God wants you to know that whatever it is that you are carrying, you have His permission to set it down. He is willing to carry it the rest of the way. He is right beside you. He knows that this is too heavy for you to carry alone and He never expected you to do so. Unlike man, His love is not based on your performance; He does not sit and place unrealistic expectations on us. In fact, Matthew 11: 28-30 says,   ²⁸ “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. ²⁹ Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. ³⁰ For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

God’s loves you so much and opens this invitation to us all “Come to me”! Just like it is hard to watch your child struggle-it is hard for your Father in Heaven to watch you struggle. Lay it down tonight and admit that it is just too heavy for you to carry. When you admit that it is more than you can manage, more than you can bear, more than you can carry, He will lift the burden for you. He will gently take your hand; He will help you go up from there.  

 

God is waiting for you, call out to Him tonight, He is waiting and His burden is light!

Tis the Season

Sitting at a traffic light, on a warm spring day, suddenly the strangest thought comes to me. “You can’t build a snowman in the summer”. From past experiences, I understood that this peculiar phrase was God trying to teach me something that I was apparently oblivious to in my life. It was God saying that what He asked must be done during its season, once the season has passed, it will be too late to begin. It has been five years since I heard that word from God. Today, as I look out my window into the glimmering snow covering the ground, I was reminded of it once again--on New Year’s Day.

This comes back to me at a time when life has become so perplexing, shifting in a direction I never would have anticipated it going. It has been two months since I announced that I would be stepping down from ministry after serving over 12 years.  I had worked so hard to obtain my credentials and figured by this point in my life, with my children grown, I would be ready to write and preach whenever I felt the leading of God. My husband and I were finally comfortable with our lives. He had a good job and made a decent income, and I was able to do independent work that allowed me time to do the ministry that I had loved.

However, the life I had imagined soon vanished like a taunting mirage during the battle to free my child from addiction. In and out of rehabs, prisons and courtrooms, leaving me faint from the weeping prayers that carried us through each step of the journey. The beautiful child that he left for me to raise I understood was a symbol of God’s magnificent grace. She would be the joy that would strengthen me to stand when everything in me wanted to lie down and surrender.  The financial strain of it all was just beginning to swallow us when they announced my husband’s work was closing its doors. The inconsistent self-employment work that had once been a means of a second income is now all that we have to carry the heavy burden. As we ended the last week of our health insurance, I was diagnosed with health issues that will remain untreated. Those closest to me, who had once been my support have left our side leaving us to face the battle alone. As this whirlwind of chaos subsides, all is stripped away. I look around and realize all the snow in my life has melted. As I frantically try to build another snowman, the water runs through my fingers evaporating in the dry dirt beneath.  

Ecclesiastes 3:1 “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens”

As I continue to stare out the window and think of the word God placed in my heart, I realize something that until now, I had missed. The snow will come and go, but His word is present always. I had built all of my confidence not in God but in the ministry, in the finances, in the family, in the friendships, in the church, in my health, my accomplishments and that of my children. I defined by success and/or failure on the snowman that I was capable of building for myself. When the sun warmed up the earth and all of the snow melted away, what did I have to define me? Nothing!

 I will build again.  Maybe this is the season for me to lose it all…a time to tear down.  A time for me to examine the places and purpose for which I was building. I know that the season will come again as His Word clearly says that there is a time to build.  This time, I will be sure to follow the lead of the Chief Builder and build upon His solid foundation.  For it is He that has made everything beautiful in its time. Not in my timing.