Missing The Path

We all headed down the path to matrimony with one goal - the elusive happily ever after. 

It didn't work that way. 

Maybe your spouse strayed off the straight and narrow. 

Maybe you did. 

Now you find yourself lost, alone, adrift. 

Or you've gotten back on track..you're just not sure it's the RIGHT track. 

You know there is hope out there, but how do you find it? Where is it?

Proverbs 14:12 (NKJV) "There is a way that seems right to a man, but it's end is the way of death"

We don't trust ourselves.  We have a hard time trusting others.  

Who CAN you trust? 

Proverbs 3:5-6 has been a favorite of mine for a long time, for it says "Trust in the Lord with all your heart,and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths."

Trust. 

In God. Who is Lord of your heart. (Is He?)

With ALL your heart. 

Don't try and figure it out yourself. 

Acknowledge Him in ALL your ways. 

That's a biggie...but the payoff is huge. 

And He will direct your PATHS.  

I know I don't want to go the wrong way again. I know I don't want to go around the mountain again, suffer from a lesson I should've learned. 

So I listen to the stIll small voice. 

"My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow me." (John 10:27)

Do you know Him? Then His voice is still there....shhhh...still your mind. Get quiet with Him. Cry out to Him. 

He KNOWS you. 

Follow Him. He is the Way, the Truth, and the life (John 14:6). 

Tonight on the way home from work, a magnificent sunset was forming. I love photography, and I really wanted to capture the majesty I knew would be right around the corner. 

As I entered my neighborhood, the sun dipped below the horizon. 

Frustrated, I passed my street and headed to the ponds, where I was SURE I was going to get "the" shot, the perfect answer to my quest. 

I rounded the curve, and no brilliant hues were noted. Just grey clouds. I was frustrated. I knew something majestic was there. Disappointed, I went to turn home...then the voice of God said "go straight". 

So I did. Back to the front of the neighborhood.  I was turning to go home, when I looked to the left...and was transfixed!

The waning sun was reflected in the clouds, a wide open palette of pastel pinks and purples, ethereal in appearance. Like nothing I had seen! I hastily parked, jumped out of the car, and praised God! It wasn't the direction I thought it was going to come from. It wasn't what I expected. It surpassed my expectations!

In the few moments I stood in awe, another amazing scene was setting up behind me. 

I turned to go back to the car, and the second picture came into glorious view. I was surrounded by beauty - different in its manifestation, but awesome in its own way. 

I almost turned back. I thought I had missed it. 

Do you think you have missed the mark?

Gotten so far afield there is no finding the Light?

Seek ye first the kingdom of God - and HIS righteousness. And all these things shall be added unto you. (Matthew 6:33). 

Never give up.

He will never give up on you. 

LS

Changing Course

Changing Course 

Good morning, good afternoon, or good day! 

I'm writing this from the Atlantic Ocean, heading to St. Thomas today. I know the course, I know the itinerary, and unless there is a storm or other unforeseen event, I know where my life will be heading for the next few days.

The Carnival magic was not so lucky. She sailed with a destiny of Mexico, and then it was discovered that there was a passenger onboard that may have touched the blood samples from the deceased Ebola patient. So the ship sat outside the coast of Mexico, unable to move forward or back, stuck by a situation beyond it's control. Eventually, it was sent back to Texas, full of frightened and disappointed travelers.  They had left for a fun filled vacation, and it turned into a nightmare. 

When I was a little girl. All I wanted to be when I grew up was a wife and mother. I didn't aspire for a career - I wanted to take care of my family, which is the highest calling.

Yet five years into my marriage, I had a wayward spouse who was living with  another woman, and I had a baby, a five year old, and I was sitting at the bedside of my 11 year old son, who had a chronic health issue that had him admitted to the hospital more time in a year than I could count. I was a high school graduate  with a semester of college behind me, working a barely over minimum wage job.

Certainly I didn't plan that.  When I got married, I wasn't even thinking that one day he would leave me for another, especially when I had a new baby, and a sick child.  But leave he did, and with no financial support . I was too overwhelmed to even consider what to do .


As I sat at my sons bedside, I glanced over my shoulder and looked out the window. I took in the trees, the cars passing on the street below...and then I noticed, for the first time, the building outside the room. 

It was a college of nursing. 

My mind began to work.  If I became a nurse, I would certainly always have a job. I would always have health insurance. For the first time in a long time, I had a glimmer of hope.

Of course I had no idea how I was going to accomplish this. That story is for another letter.  Through the support of my friends and my church, and through hard work and Pell grants, I graduated from nursing school in May of 1997. A divorcee with a 2 1/2 year old, a six year old, and a 12 year old struggling with a lifelong autoimmune disease. 

I didn't know how I could do it.  I didn't know if I could stand the sight of blood! I had no idea what I was getting myself into. 


God knew.  I know it broke His heart when the marriage was destroyed, but He knows the beginning from the end. Nothing takes Him by surprise. 

I had no idea what to do, but I threw myself at His feet, and He directed my course. 

He is the captain of my ship . In Proverbs it says His Word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. His plans are for my good - Jeremiah 29:11. 

Sometimes we get off course. Sometimes we make decisions that we know are wrong for us. Sometimes things happen to us beyond our control, and we deal with the fallout. 

The solution to both those situations is to go back to where the Rock is - God.  Cry out to Him. Pour out your heart, your pain, your fear.  Ask for forgiveness if you need to, repent of anything you have to, get clean and erase  the course you were on. Grieve it...and then let it go.  

It's not what you had planned. You may have no idea what you're going to do. 

Put it in the capable hands of your Father.  Make Him captain of your life. He will never, ever let you down. He knows where you need to go. 


Trust in Him.