When Dreams Take A Detour -Featuring Original Music by Shelleen

I would undoubtedly be classified as an eternal optimist. Born with constellations in my eyes, I tend to only focus on the exciting possibility of any given potential situation, ignoring the pink flags that I’m sure won’t deepen into crimson. No doubt that is why God gave me my husband. Opposites attract. Don’t get me wrong; he is no Eeyore, but he is a realist, whom I affectionately call the tether to this hot air balloon.

One of the wonderful attributes to being an eternal optimist is that we are possibility thinkers. I would definitely say that I am an idea person. If I had a team to carry out my business ideas, I would have at least a half-dozen of them; I’m sure of it.

One of the down sides, however, is that we are often disappointed when reality crashes our party.

Ideas that don’t pan out are one thing, but what about when it drives deeper than that? What happens when the branch we’ve built our nest in gets struck by a lightening bolt, and we find ourselves lying on the cold, wet ground, sizzling and broken… Like when God doesn’t answer our prayer the way we’d hoped, and a loved one is taken from us; or our trust is broken by someone we depended on; or our heart is plundered by a loved one who took a wrong road? What about your situation? Go ahead – Factor your X into this equation.

Life brings us to crossroads often right after a bend in the road or detour appeared when we least expected it. When we’ve been jolted off what we thought was the course for our life, and a situation arises out of left field that we never saw coming – the kind that makes you question the soundness of the very foundation you’ve built your life upon, know this:

There is always One who is faithful. There is One who will never leave us or forsake us, who neither sleeps nor slumbers, whose love is deeper than the leviathan ever made his bed, wider than east is from west, and higher than light can be cast from the farthest star.

 

 

Standing at the crossroad, if we wisely choose the ancient path – the narrow road less traveled; the one that although dark, is lit by the light of God’s Word, we will find that the ground is made level for our feet. And as we travel on, we will also learn that the joy is in the journey, because we don’t travel alone. Every step of faith we take carries us deeper into relationship with our Navigator, until one day we realize that we don’t even care so much about knowing where the path leads. Not because it doesn’t matter, but because we trust that detail to the One who has captivated our attention…turned affection.

In time, we realize that without those detours, we never would have learned to trust the Navigator; to know His voice. We never would have sought direction from what we previously thought was just a road map, only to find that His Word is life-giving, brilliant, precious, and alive. We never would have seen our earthly aspirations for what they are apart from relationship with Him: Smoke.

Instead, by His leading, we are ever amazed at the generous provision He makes, as well as the abilities He gifts us with along the way to accomplish exceedingly beyond even the wildest dreams of the most eternal of optimists.

Somehow, although we are left with scars from the pain that disappointments bring along our journey, brokenness somehow does not retain it’s ugly hew, nor does the threat of it hold the paralyzing power that it once had over us. In fact, we learn that although it’s still natural and healthy to cry when pain seizes our emotions, we can be at peace; knowing that we can rest even with an air of expectancy, also known as hope – Hope in the One who is always faithful to in His timing, make all things beautiful; even scarred, plundered, bleeding, and broken hearts like ours. Beautiful because with every plunge into the furnace, we come out looking less and less like the mire we were pulled from, and more like the face of the One who loves us enough to purify us in the first place.

Whether right now you are cruising with the top down along a sun-lit highway, or you’ve just hit a detour, understand that crossroads lay ahead for all of us. One doesn’t make it through this life unscathed. It’s our response to our trials that holds ramifications that are truly eternal.

This is what the Lord says: “Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls.                 ~Jeremiah 6:16a (NIV)

p.s. Thank you for reading my blog. I eagerly welcome your feedback (click on “comment” at the top). Feel free to follow me or pass this post on to a friend it may encourage. Now I hope you enjoy my very poorly played, but sincerely written and delivered song entitled, “He Never Let Me Down”.