'Round the Bend

Several weeks ago, I arrived to class early just as I always do. I had been fighting off nausea all day and just felt miserable. I went to my professor's office early to let him know that if I left class early, it was due to a weak stomach.  He sent me home and said that several other classmates had reported the same thing and he did not want me spreading the love to anyone else.

I was thankful to go home and rest, but I also knew that I would have to fight rush-hour traffic to make it there. I decided that I would try to take the back roads. I had done it once before, with the help of my GPS. I looked down at my phone - it would die any minute. But I decided to risk it. I tossed my phone into my purse, knowing there was no time to pull up directions.

As I started home, things looked somewhat familiar. I kept looking for landmarks and roads that I had seen on my previous journey. Eventually I ended up in an area that I couldn't say I had seen or hadn't seen before. I kept driving straight. "Surely this will lead me to the tollway", I thought to myself. But it never did. As I headed into the hills of uncharted territory and back country roads that are idyllic for a Sunday afternoon drive, I said a prayer. "Lord, lead me home. Let me be still and quiet enough to hear your voice. Don't let me take one, wrong road.".

I pushed my nausea down, along with the volume to my radio and I paid careful attention to my drive. It was so quiet and peaceful. There was something beautiful about knowing that only the Lord and I knew where I was in that moment. Not a soul out there knew that I was twisting and turning into towns not my own.

I never became completely confident that I was headed in the right direction, let alone was on the right road. But I pushed on, determined not to stop to ask for directions. Not because I didn't want to, but because I wanted to hear from the Lord more. And not some audible voice that guided me to turn left or to turn right, but to just hear something in my heart from Him.

I encountered dozens of streets. Dozens of decisions. And on my final stretch home, I passed a street that had I taken five turns backs, would have put me in my driveway much earlier.

And there it was. So quiet, that I might have missed it as quickly as my car passed by the street sign.

He spoke.

I did not get home the quickest or shortest way available, but I got home just the same. At the end of the night I sat parked in my garage in awe that He had granted my plea,  I had not taken one wrong road.

Every twist and turn along the way led me to the place I so desired, home.

He has watched over your journey through this vast wilderness. These forty years the LORD your God has been with you, and you have not lacked anything. Deuteronomy 2:7

For a deeper look: Hinds Feet on High Places