The roadless journey
Most roads take us on fairly predictable journeys. But what about the journeys that take us off-road and come at us as a surprise? Does it all have purposeful design in each and every step of the way?
Some days I readily accept and believe that they do. On other days, I tend to doubt it.
Thoughts like these and many others have run rampant through my mind since the moment my fiancé found out for sure he'd be on 400 day orders with the US Army and deployed back in November.
I'm often nudged/reminded of very small, yet very significant pieces of truth along the way. Things like where the Bible says, "A man plans his ways, but his steps are ordered of The Lord." Oh. So. True. Even when we don't know the details or the details are ever-changing, God knows the plan from beginning to the ending. As one of my all-time favorite speakers/authors Priscilla Shirer once said, "Everything that comes into our lives passes through the fingertips of the hand of a sovereign God." I'm convinced He's in control. He's got this. He's working all things for good.
Many verses/songs from my childhood remind me of truths like, "This is the day The Lord has made. I will rejoice and be glad in it." I must admit it's much easier to sing those things as a five year old in what I used to call "Scunday School class" than it is to live them out in the realities of everyday life. Am I rejoicing in every day that God gives me? Are you? If not, why are we not?
Deployments aren't easy, and I know that even though it's a first for me, I'm not the only one who's faced this before. Tons face deployment, on both sides, all the time. In fact, lots are currently facing it right now, so that we can continue on in our daily, uninterrupted freedoms. (side note: We could all be more gentle and loving in how we express our "right" to those freedoms, could we not?)
For you, it may not be deployment. It doesn't have to be. Just fill in the blank with whatever difficulty, obstacle, confusion, not-going-according-to-my-plans ordeal you're currently going through, and I challenge you to make a list of what (positive) lessons it's teaching you about yourself, life in general, and God Himself.
A couple of things I've already learned from this deployment are this:
1. Hellos get sweeter, but goodbyes never get easier. Hug the people you can today. Send long-distance love to those you can't.
2. The general American population needs a world map of common sense. "E-raq" is not a place, people. On any continent. on Earth. At all.
3. I'm engaged to the strongest, yet sweetest man I know. His commitment to serve me and others is unmatched. I love watching and following his example. I'm thankful God gave him to me.
4. I can trust an all-knowing and always-loving God with the days, weeks, and months ahead on this roadless journey. When the time of the journey is unknown and the road that marks a clear path ahead is seemingly erased (or never forged in the first place), I can still trust God. He never changes.
5. We can all be more appreciative of people, time, and the fleeting moments we have together.
6. Make the best of today. It's all we're given at a time.
Most roads take us on fairly predictable journeys. But what about the journeys that take us off-road and come at us as a surprise? Does it all have purposeful design in each and every step of the way?
Some days I readily accept and believe that they do. On other days, I tend to doubt it.
Thoughts like these and many others have run rampant through my mind since the moment my fiancé found out for sure he'd be on 400 day orders with the US Army and deployed back in November.
I'm often nudged/reminded of very small, yet very significant pieces of truth along the way. Things like where the Bible says, "A man plans his ways, but his steps are ordered of The Lord." Oh. So. True. Even when we don't know the details or the details are ever-changing, God knows the plan from beginning to the ending. As one of my all-time favorite speakers/authors Priscilla Shirer once said, "Everything that comes into our lives passes through the fingertips of the hand of a sovereign God." I'm convinced He's in control. He's got this. He's working all things for good.
Many verses/songs from my childhood remind me of truths like, "This is the day The Lord has made. I will rejoice and be glad in it." I must admit it's much easier to sing those things as a five year old in what I used to call "Scunday School class" than it is to live them out in the realities of everyday life. Am I rejoicing in every day that God gives me? Are you? If not, why are we not?
Deployments aren't easy, and I know that even though it's a first for me, I'm not the only one who's faced this before. Tons face deployment, on both sides, all the time. In fact, lots are currently facing it right now, so that we can continue on in our daily, uninterrupted freedoms. (side note: We could all be more gentle and loving in how we express our "right" to those freedoms, could we not?)
For you, it may not be deployment. It doesn't have to be. Just fill in the blank with whatever difficulty, obstacle, confusion, not-going-according-to-my-plans ordeal you're currently going through, and I challenge you to make a list of what (positive) lessons it's teaching you about yourself, life in general, and God Himself.
A couple of things I've already learned from this deployment are this:
1. Hellos get sweeter, but goodbyes never get easier. Hug the people you can today. Send long-distance love to those you can't.
2. The general American population needs a world map of common sense. "E-raq" is not a place, people. On any continent. on Earth. At all.
3. I'm engaged to the strongest, yet sweetest man I know. His commitment to serve me and others is unmatched. I love watching and following his example. I'm thankful God gave him to me.
4. I can trust an all-knowing and always-loving God with the days, weeks, and months ahead on this roadless journey. When the time of the journey is unknown and the road that marks a clear path ahead is seemingly erased (or never forged in the first place), I can still trust God. He never changes.
5. We can all be more appreciative of people, time, and the fleeting moments we have together.
6. Make the best of today. It's all we're given at a time.
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