And Always in the Unexpected

It was cold and windy, but I rejoiced.  The ice had melted.  It was not raining.  And the sun beckoned to me like when I was a little girl, inviting me to open the door and play outside.  I dressed in layers.  I brought my mittens.  I wore sunglasses.

I chose to run my hill route, a rigorous but beautiful winding path through the forest.  After weeks of the treadmill -- for which I was thankful through the January storms-- I knew the hills would provide a different kind of training, a type of strengthening offset by the beauty around me.

Halfway through, I added a loop around a ridge that I had not run in months.  As I approached the last big curve in that loop, surrounded by the wild, I remarked outloud that I had not seen so much as a squirrel.  I noticed, however, a large number of dogwalkers coming in the opposite direction.  As I rounded the bend, I saw the reason why.  They were turning around.  An enormous tree about fifteen yards away came into sight, having fallen directly across the path, blocking the way with its large trunk and huge splintered branches.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I hadn't expected that.  

Sometimes God leads us to turn around by blocking our path.  Sometimes He guides us right through the chaos.

I got down on my knees and tried crawling through an opening under the trunk.  A large branch blocked that avenue.  I tried again by working my way over to one side and scooting across the trunk that way.  Now I could see the way around.  Over, under, around and through.  Willing to turn around, if necessary, willing to keep going, watching and responding as needed.

As I reached the other side, I could see another hiker beginning her journey through from the other side.  I had not just made it.  But perhaps also inadvertently handed courage to another.  

Even in the unexpected, we can trust God.  The circumstances may appear outside of our plans, but not beyond His.  Not in our timing or place or purposes, but deeper in His.  Unknown and unexpected to us, but not to Him.  He sees what is coming even if we do not.  Throughout the history of the world, God uses the unexpected to reveal His Presence.  We all have a chronicle of God's faithfulness.

I was not stuck after all.  But I was strengthened through the adventure of it and even the struggle.  How else can I approach this dilemma?  And perhaps not just impacted by this experience, but for yet another.  Recognizing God and trusting Him changes everything we see, how we walk, how we climb through, and how we respond.

 

But I trust in You, O LORD;

I say, "You are my God."

My times are in Your hand.

                   Psalm 31.14-15

 

God doesn't shout, "You've got this.  You can do it!" as if we are invincible.

But instead, "Follow Me.  Do not fear.  I am with you."   Because He is our strength.

It is God who brings us through.

Even through what we face today.