~By: Debbie
I first created this verse image in May 2018 when our lives met a head-scratching roadblock—and ultimate detour. I originally used a picture of a prairie wilderness, but have since updated it to an unknown destination roadway. What a perfect fit as I share our story in ‘Grace through the Bumps’.
This head-scratching journey reminds me of a trip my husband and I took in February 2020 that included a very confusing detour in St. Louis.
But first, please allow me to take my own detour about this precious trip that could only be orchestrated by a loving and caring Heavenly Father! We had originally planned on visiting our moms in their residential facilities in two cities in Ohio in March—(No, we’re not from Ohio, but that is where they both ended up living!). But, for ‘some reason’, we felt led to take the trip over Presidents’ Day weekend rather than during Spring Break. Well, think back to March 2020! There would have been no trip over Spring Break and no opportunity to see our moms even up to the present.
Quite a blessed and productive roadblock, wouldn’t you say?
Now, back to that infamous St. Louis detour…
There had been warning signs of the upcoming detour a few miles out, but, at least to me, they weren’t clear and just didn’t make sense. When the road ahead closed and we were forced to exit, we were not sure which way to turn at the bottom of the ramp. Since we wanted to be heading east, we decided to turn right…and head east. Makes sense, right?
Well, a few miles down the road something just didn’t ‘seem right’, and we decided to turn around, thinking we had missed a sign. We were now heading west and still saw no signs as we crossed under the original start of the detour. We were obviously confused and concerned, yet we kept going—still heading in the opposite direction of where we were headed---and we were scratching our heads!
Finally, we saw a sign that reassured us we were on the right road and were heading in the right direction, as strange as it seemed. Eventually signs pointed us to the exit that put us on Interstate 70….heading EAST!
When that was all over, and we knew we were on the right path, we scratched our heads one more time and were thankful to be on our way again. MoDOT knew what they were doing all along. We just needed to follow their directions, not ours!
This has been our journey over the past almost 3 years. We experienced a lot of head-scratching, confusing, and often frustrating roadblocks that included numerous ‘detours’, ‘speed bumps’, ‘road construction zones’, ‘excessive red lights’ (You know, when you hit EVERY red light!), etc. But, we continued on the journey and have seen those reassuring signs that we are, indeed, on the right highway. We are heading EAST again!
I encourage you to follow YOUR confusing detours with grace, as your Heavenly Father, the Ultimate “DOT” engineer, knows exactly what He is doing. Trust His guidance, even when you’re scratching your head...
In upcoming installments, I will continue to share those special sections of Scripture that directed our path as we scratched our heads and sought the road ahead.
~Debbie