When was the last time you pulled up a map on your phone?
Many of us use these maps every day, whether to help notify us of the next turn we need to take towards our destination or to know when we will arrive. In addition, mobile map apps alert drivers of their next turn or when there is something ahead, providing verbal cues and sounds that help eliminate getting lost and when something unexpected is ahead.
What if I told you, the same guidance exists for your life, but the guideposts are often more subtle along the way.
In January 2018, I returned to life in the country with my husband and three children. I had grown up in a farmhouse in the country as a child and after running away from the simpler life after getting married, I found myself unexpectantly called to pack up our home in the suburbs.
I had recently left teaching and was trying to adjust into the role of a stay-at-home mom, we had just delivered our third child which ended in a stint in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, and our twins were anticipatingthe start of kindergarten
I spent the summer trapesing across cities and counties with our children in tow, scheduling tours of homes with our relator, and each time either an offer was not accepted, or we could not come to agreement with the seller. I decided maybe the time wasn’t right to move and declared the search off for a new home. However, over time, the intuition to keep searching grew so much, that I knew within me I needed to resume looking for properties.
It was in a quiet moment whilst rocking our son to sleep, that I found myself pulling up the realty app on my phone.
Rather rather than searching in the area I thought we should live in, I broadened the search, and this time a property appeared meeting all the criteria my husband and I had established.
On Thanksgiving evening, we received a call from our relator that our offer was accepted and by January we stepped into what we believed was our plan, but when looking back, was clearly God’s plan.
What seemed like a bit of an abrupt move to others, revealed itself to be the hand of God who was making things into something better for our family.
Shortly after our offer was accepted, our home was put on the market. Unknown to us, the twins’ teacher had been casually looking at homes in the area with no intention of moving until she saw our home. She recognized the twins’ backpacks in one of the photographs, and she and her husband made an offer on our house that we couldn’t refuse.
With the sale of the house taken care of the same day as we put it on the market, my next concern was how our children would do transitioning in the middle of the year to a new school.
When reaching out to an old friend who happened to teach in the school district we were moving to, I came to find out our twins would be in her classroom. It was in these moments God was showing me that He was in control and I needed to rely on Him as I “walked by faith, not by sight.” (2 Corinthians 5:7) He was preparing me for what was ahead.
During the fall of that same year of moving to the country, my husband unexpectedly came down with debilitating back pain that eventually led to emergency surgery. Everything up to the surgery seemed routine until I found myself sitting in the waiting room.
Screens were placed throughout the waiting room so families could track where their loved ones were in the process of their operation. My husband had been in recovery for a while and I was noticing the people who had been waiting around the same time as I, were being called back to be with their family member or friend. It was then that a sinking feeling came over me.
I was no longer sitting and waiting but pacing the room with my gaze on the screen and my ears alert for a nurse to call. The nurse didn’t call for me but my husband’s surgeon who was heading in my direction. The sinking feeling was replaced with a wave of fear, as my thoughts began racing, wondering what news he was about to deliver.
After a brief, but informative explanation, I was told that my husband was paralyzed from the waist down and only time would tell what his recovery would be like.
Having been on bed rest for three months in the hospital with our twins and having experienleaving a family member behind in the hospital, the moments following seeing my husband after surgery felt familiar.
I knew the only way to move forward was to completely let go and fully trust that God would not only lead us in the days ahead, but that he would make it all turn out for a greater good.
You see, when we moved to the country, we didn’t purchase a new home. We purchased a historic 185-year-old-home that needed restoration which we had committed to completing ourselves.
It was through all these events that it was revealed to me that God led us into the country to do his very own restoration work on both my husband and I. His business had to come before our own agenda.
Pause for a moment and think of a pivotal moment in your life. Now reflect on the events that occurred up to that moment. Are there any moments or experiences that connected that particular situation?
I like to think of the more subtle events that lead to bigger events as guideposts.
They are like the landmarks which are placed on the maps we pull up on our phones, giving us the reassurance that we are where we are meant to be. However, God does not reveal the path ahead or detours we will encounter. Rather He calls us to walk in faith so that we can strengthen our relationship with HIM as well as building endurance for the days ahead.
I hope that as you navigate through the days ahead, you will take time to consider your posture towards the more challenging moments in your life. I encourage you to lean into reflection, take note of those significant times in your life where things were going in an unexpected way. Examine the period before, during and after the event.
It may reveal to you that what might have seemed to have been a subtlety or coincidence then, was in fact the hand of God leading you to where you were meant to be today.
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. Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff they comfort me. -Psalm 23:1-4
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