Have you ever noticed how just when you think you have the perfect plan, it falls apart?  My most recent experience testing this was a couple of weeks ago when I flew to New Mexico to help move my son, Tye, his wife, Sabrina, and their family back to South Dakota. We had loaded their U-haul truck all day, had stopped for my last green chili sundae (yes, that’s a thing and yes, they are yummy!) with Sabrina’s family to relax for a few minutes before hitting the road for a few hours. 

We figured if we drove at night we could get that first leg of the trip over with while the little ones were sleeping.  We knew that the first town we had planned to stop at was sold out of hotel rooms before we took off, but we also knew there were larger cities a little further down the road and there wouldn’t be a problem getting a room in one of them.  Boy, were we wrong!

Our idea of getting three or four hours under our belts turned into a 14-hour drive.  Every hotel along the route and some off our normal route were sold out due to the holiday weekend and the fires in Colorado.  I truly didn’t believe we could do it.  But, like so many things in life, we just took the next step, and then the next, and pretty soon we were safely in a town in northern Colorado that had a room we could stay in.  

We were exhausted, but we did what I really believed was impossible at 2:00 am.  Funny how when you turn it over to God, life turns out.  In fact, we got to experience one of those sunrises that made you believe that God was there with you.  You know, the one that begs for a picture, but just can’t be captured.  

As I reflect on our journey, I realized that it was very much like Tye and Sabrina’s journey as a couple.  You see, three years ago they moved to New Mexico full of hopes and dreams about what their life would be like as they began their marriage together in a new home, with new jobs, and a baby on the way.  

Things didn’t turn out exactly the way they had envisioned, but even in their disappointments, they saw beauty, made lifetime friends, learned life lessons, and found ways to turn their struggles into opportunities.  As is often the case after we move to new places, we find that there were things we miss that we had no idea we valued in the place we left behind.  

The beauty of it is that God was able to turn that detour in their lives into good and opened up career paths that neither could have foreseen without the “wrong turn.”  We talk about some of those experiences in this week’s broadcast of Reviving Your Soul (Now Longing for More).  Be sure to listen to the interview with Tye and Sabrina for more details of their journey in the episode called The Journey.  I think you will enjoy hearing their story.

As is usually the case, we make plans in life, we do the best we can to make those plans a reality, and then we wait to see how they mesh with God’s plan.  We don’t ever get to see how it will unfold and sometimes the mess in the middle seems too big to bear.  That’s where faith comes in.  I am honored to be a part of Tye and Sabrina’s journey and am grateful they were willing to share it with us this week.  Be sure to welcome them back to South Dakota if you get a chance and congratulate them on following their dreams and making adjustments so they can truly live the life they were called to live.