A few days ago I had to drive into Guatemala City. I needed to get to the immigration office to renew my visa. I live in San Cristobal, which I consider to be a "suburb" of Guatemala City. It's not a very big town. In fact, there is only one main boulevard. There are 3 ways out of San Cristobal, but only 2 that take you directly into the City.
Usually I take the Blvd. and go east (sort of...no road here is straight...but the general direction was east). As I was leaving San Cristobal and coming into the City, I noticed that the traffic was way backed up. Not wanting to wait (I wanted to get to the immigration office before lunch time), I turned around, and took the other way because I thought "surely, that will be quicker". As I was approaching the City, I realized, one of the main roads had been blocked (protesters) and they were having people detour. Essentially, they were sending people back, to go the way I was originally going through! Except, in Guatemala, it's not as simple as going up one block and turning around on the other and going back. Nope, I had to literally go around the mountain! Seriously, at this point, I had absolutly no clue where I was headed. I was following the flow of traffic but even then, I was not certain where I was going to end up. Thank God I had filled up my tank of gas the day before because I was driving for a long time! As I was driving I kept thinking "surely this is not quicker than if I would have just waited!" At the end of the detour (mind you, there are no signs, no cones, no one directing you...they just tell you to take this road....and it's a long, windy one!), I ended up on a road that I was very familair with (thank God!) Traffic was flowing ok. What I realized was, if I had waited for a few minutes in that original traffic jam, I would have made it to this road where the cars were actually moving at a relatively decent pace, and would have been where I needed to be already. Instead, becuase I was impatient, I took my "shortcut", and although I got to where I needed to be, it took me way longer than it should have.......
Well, isn't that like our life sometimes? Sometimes we are on track to go somewhere in our life, and we wait on God. And although we don't realize it, He has us on the road that will take us to our destination. We grow impatient and get tired of waiting. We decide we are going to speed things up a little. After all, I know where I'm supposed to be, what I'm supposed to be doing, etc....so why do I need to wait on God. He seems to be taking forever. And so we go on our way, and we do things our way instead of waiting on God. I know I've done that before....please make a sister feel a litlte better and tell me I'm not the only one! :) Much like my "road trip" we encounter "road blcoks" that God did not intend for us to encounter. The "shortcut" is not always shorter. We get lost for a little while because we have gone off track and taken the "detour". But you know what I am thankful for? I'm thankful that God, in His abundant grace, leads us back to the road we were suppossed to be on, and once we are back on that road, we realize, "yea, this may take longer than I think it should take, but this way is so much smoother"
I am often tempted to take the shortcut or rush things along. Especially when I feel like God is not answering me in a timely fashion. But God, in His gentleness reminds me that "his ways are higher than my ways and his thoughts higher than my thoughts". Just because I think something should go a certain way, or happen at a certain time, doesn't mean that's the best way. Trusting God and having complete and total faith in God is not easy, but it is something that is utterly neccesary in this walk.
So next time you are tempted to take the shortcut, just think of me, driving around (again...literally) the mountain with my windows up (because I didn't know where I was and if I was safe or not), a little freaked out, and wasting precious time! And remember that "He works all things together for the good of those who love Him" (even traffic jams can be for our good!!)
Pa' Lante y Pal Cielo!!!
Cece
"He has made everything beautiful in His time"
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