Getting off the Interstate

Today I start a new chapter in my life, one I could not have imagined even a year ago. Circumstances that define my explanations or understanding have brought opportunity my way and in the will of God, I said “yes.”  I am committed now, in major ways, to a road that will be full of twists and turns I cannot begin to anticipate. Am I fearful? Perhaps a little. More accurately, I would say I am wondering.

One of my favorite authors, Gordon MacDonald, says that God sends ‘disruptive moments’ to us so that He can reclaim our attention and allow us to experience His purposes more fully. He illustrates the point with our American road system. The interstates allow us to drive at 70 miles per hour, quickly going from point “A” to “B” with efficiency.  Stoplights are non-existent on an interstate highway. Curves are long and sweeping so as not to slow traffic. However, when a person travels on those roads, Americana is lost. MacDonald says that if you want to experience these United States, you have to travel  on secondary roads.  “They wind through small towns and villages … you see things on them, even though it takes more time and caution to travel them.  Secondary roads do not promise unhindered passage. Sometimes they are poorly maintained.  … Each town has one police officer with a radar unit designed to raise revenue. … Be prepared for the inevitable slow-moving vehicle that keeps you crawling along for miles in no-passing zones. … There are many potential disruptions along the way.”  (The Life God Blesses)

 For much of my life, I have spent my time figuratively on the Interstate Highway. My goals and destinations precluded stops to experience people and places to their fullest. And, for all my efficiency, I am poorer having missed the opportunities that might have emerged in a slow conversation over a cup of coffee that was not scheduled on my full agenda!  God, in His infinite wisdom, has detoured me onto a secondary road. Some destinations and dreams are now out of reach as the trip will be slower. But, I believe that I will live a richer, fuller life, more accessible to others and loving better than I have in the past.

Are you open to the Lord’s ‘disruptive moments?’  Can you allow for the fact that your recent job loss may be His call to a new way of life along lesser traveled paths of deeper intimacy with Him?  Could it be that what you have fought so long and hard is actually His persistent urging to a life more centered on people and less on things? That painful situation you have resented so bitterly could be an invitation to greater faith and to a new dream.

 Here’s the word from the Word. May it bless you with His peace this day.

"To keep me from becoming proud, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger from Satan to torment me and keep me from becoming proud.

Three different times I begged the Lord to take it away. Each time he said, “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.”
So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me." (2 Corinthians 12:7-9, NLT)

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Blessings

We pray for blessings,

 We pray for peace.
 Comfort for family,
Protection while we sleep;
 We pray for healing, for prosperity,
We pray for Your mighty hand to ease our suffering.
 All the while, You hear each spoken need,
 Yet love is way too much to give us lesser things

 ‘Cause what if your blessings come through raindrops?

 What if Your healing comes through tears
What if a thousand sleepless nights are what it takes to know You’re near?
 What if trials of this life are Your mercies in disguise?

We pray for wisdom,

Your voice to hear.
We cry in anger when we cannot feel You near.
We doubt your goodness, we doubt your love
 As if every promise from Your Word is not enough.

All the while, You hear each desperate plea

 And long that we’d have faith to believe.

What if my greatest disappointments
 Or the aching of this life
 Is the revealing of a greater thirst this world can’t satisfy?
 What if trials of this life
 The rain, the storms, the hardest nights
 Are your mercies in disguise?

 Blessings
Laura Story

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SGniRk_GcLs&playnext=1&list=PL6190A1E2F290A3EA