When Life Hits A Detour

Life. I’m so frustrated with it right now. There is this big, freakin’ detour sign blocking the road in front of me and another telling me the road ahead is closed. What?! I have places to go and people to see! And. This. Detour. Is. Not. In. My. Plan. I feel myself gripping the steering wheel with white knuckled fingers. I know I have no choice but to take the detour if I ever hope to reach my final destination, but I HATE detours. They always make me late. Often, they take me on windy roads that twist and turn through unknown territory. If the detour is not marked well, I usually get lost. And if all that is not bad enough, life detours make me use words like “freakin’” which kind of feels like swearing to this Jesus-loving girl.

Ever feel like God put a big, freakin’ detour sign smack dab in the middle of the road he paved for you? Like really, God, what’s up with this? Detours have an annoying way of reminding us who is really in the driver’s seat of life. God gives us control, but it is limited control. He has glorious, and sometimes unnervingly difficult, things he wants to show us and teach us that we’ll never experience if we don’t go with him on the detour. Let’s slide on over to the passenger’s seat and humble ourselves, shall we?

God is the map designer of your journey. He created the beginning, ending and every mile in between. You can be sure of this, dear one, if God inserted a detour sign, it’s for a good reason and he can be trusted with it. This bumpy, curvy, unfamiliar road is only temporary. Soon, the main road will be open again and life will return to normal. It will be a new normal, but it will be good. Your joy will return because the Driver will lift up your sweet head so you can see his goodness all around you. Most likely, you’ll look at life a little differently that you did before, because when you ride with the Master and listen to his words along the way, it’s impossible not to leave a changed woman.

Second Corinthians 4:16-18 encourages us, “Do not lose heart. Our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”

Be certain of this, God won’t let your time on that detour go to waste if it’s surrendered to him. The hours, days, months and years, though sometimes long and painful, are achieving something in you of eternal value. So do not lost heart. Be certain of this, “that in all things God works for the good of those who love him” (Romans 8:28). Ask God to help you be okay with this detour he has you on. Don’t miss your opportunity to spend this time learning from him and leaning on him.

Remember, too, that the driver is responsible for getting you to your final destination. And, friend, trust me…he will. I know how hard it is not to drive from the passenger’s seat. I like to be in control too. But along my life’s journey, I’ve learned that when I can surrender every detail into the loving hands of my Driver, I can rest and trust the journey. Peace overcomes my worry and anxiety. I close my eyes, lean my head back against the seat, and hear him say,

Along life’s journey, you will have many troubles, but don’t be afraid. I am with you always. I will hold your hand and deliver you from them all. For I know the plans I have for you. Plans to prosper you and not to harm you; plans to give you hope and a future. (John 16:33, Genesis 26:24, Jeramiah 29:11)