DETOUR!

I'm a planner! I'm taking a road trip with Tyler in a couple of weeks and I have to have a map and follow the directions to a tee so that I will end up where we plan on going. This is pretty norm for most people. Planning on what stops and sites we are going to see along the way. By doing this, it allows us to get to our destination and not get lost. I am somewhat directionally challenged (i.e., I can get lost in my own back yard) so looking at the map and following it is a big help to me. However, there are times when we have headed out on a trip and get caught in road work and have to take a detour. Detours make me nervous because it was something we didn't prepare for and we aren't really sure where we are going to come out. Sometimes it could take us miles out of the way and not knowing what lies ahead is a little nerve racking. There have been a few times that we've detoured and there have been some things we were able to see that we wouldn't have otherwise seen because it wasn't on the map that we laid out for ourselves. And if we would have continued down that mapped course without following the detour, we might be in a ditch somewhere or the bridge could be out and we'll end up in the river! And although we can't see it from the car or on the map, there are people who can, so they detour us to keep us safe.

This reminds me of my life lately. I had my life mapped out including what I was going to do, when I was going to do it and who was going to be a part of it. Then out of nowhere, I come upon a DETOUR. I've lost my job, had things happen with my family, had friends leave, etc. This is not what I had planned on, I can guarantee you that. BUT...(this is a big but too, like a deep and spiritual one so hold on) God is my navigator. Surely He sees that I know what's best for me, right? He has to know that what I want is what I should get and nothing should get in the way of that, right? *BONG* wrong answer sunshine! Our lives are not ours to begin with. My life is not mine! I live for Him and Him only so He is going to know what's best for me and what route I should take. He sometimes sets out detours because He knows what lies ahead and He wants us to learn from something different or see other things that we normally wouldn't have seen if we would have stayed on that same "life path". I will admit that these detours can be scary at times because we don't know what's going to be waiting for us at the end. Sometimes we get angry and gripe the whole way through the detour. Sometimes we gripe so much that we actually miss the sites, the blessings. We are more focused on the fact that we have been detoured then on the things that are coming into play along the detoured route.
We still have the same goal in site! We are still going to end up where we are going! It may take us a little longer to get there but it's going to happen! I'm on a detour right now! And I keep going because I know that God's got this!! There are "sites" that I'm seeing that I would have overlooked if I would have continued on the same path that I had mapped out. And I thank Him for teaching me that once again, He's navigating my life and He knows what I need more than I do. You "sites"...you know who you are. Thank you for making this detour a "less bumpy ride" for me.

Don't let a detour ruin your trip! Go with it! Trust that God's got this and He will never fail you nor forsake you!!!  Jeremiah 29:11 'For I know the plans I have for you,' declares the LORD, 'plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.'