Have you ever faced an unplanned detour?
I was driving home from Milledgeville when I saw the frustrating orange sign.
Following the arrow, I heard Siri’s voice say, “Proceed to the route. Proceed to the route.” I began to get nervous. Am I going the right way?
As I travelled down the country road I saw it, a beautiful cloud lined with the shimmer of a summer storm, perfectly framed against the blue of a clear summer sky. On a hill just below sat a lonely farmhouse with a rolling green field lying before her.
I considered stopping to capture this Kodak moment until I heard the words of my dear friend Sandy, “Some moments are just for you, Eve.”
As Siri recalculated and found his way, I pondered the moments when God has led me on a divine detour.
How often do I find myself rushed on the highway of life? Where it only takes a traffic jam or the pain of an accident to bring me to my knees? Where the uncertainty of a detour waylays my best laid path, anxiety of the unknown becoming a comfortable friend?
But if I can be still in this moment and listen, I hear His still small voice say “Hello Daughter, I am here. Bask in the light of my Presence. See the beauty of my creation and enjoy this moment of peace.”
I need His peace in this season. And the more that I seek His peace, the more detours I seem to face. It's a conundrum really. I love order, lists and predictability. But as God reveals my desire for straight paths, He reveals His desire to give me MORE.
So, in this season of LISTEN, I seek His Presence. And as I yearn for His voice, I learn to stop, slow down and sit in the beauty of His Divine Detour. It is here that I recognize the beauty of His Presence as I unwrap His gift of MORE. And it's okay that I am not in control as I learn to trust in the sound of His voice leading me home.
I sit in the comfort that every divine detour leads me to green pastures and quiet waters where He refreshes me and prepares me for the day when I will stand in the Light of His glory and hear Him say, “Daughter you have arrived.”
He says, “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.” Psalm 46:10
The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing. He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he refreshes my soul. He guides me along the right paths for his name’s sake. Psalm 23:1-3
Surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Psalm 23:6