Chosen Grace

Hello readers! June is here and I must say that I missed you all. During the month of May, I decided to take some time away from blogging. This was because so much was happening for me- and I needed time to digest it all.

For starters, I graduated college! Some days, I still can’t believe it. But the degree I got in the mail just the other day says otherwise.

I also decided to take some time off because I wanted to hear and heed the voice of God. So- I cut all ties with social media and began to listen to The Father. And let me tell you- He has been speaking.

And while God has been telling me a lot of things- the one thing He constantly showed me was that detours in life are important. God began to speak about this through movies, books, and all things in between. In fact- just when I thought He was done emphasizing detours in my life- He took me on a real detour that made me surrender and listen.

Last week, my close friend had a birthday dinner. I had a blast seeing my friends and just chilling with everyone. When we left the resturant, it was dark. My brother and I decided that the best route was the one involving the highway so that we could get back home quickly.

Things were going smoothly on the freeway until I missed the first turn. Afterf that, I tried to refocus but then I took the wrong turn- unintentionally setting myself back a few minutes for my scheduled arrival home.

I had officially entered a detour.

Just as I found myself on a detour in my car, there are times where we can make spiritual detours. These spiritual detours happen when God has led us to a place that may not seem like the ones we had set our for ourselves.

This can look like being stuck at a job you hate, being lonely although you’re praying for a relationship, or feeling like you just can’t fix what is broken.

No matter the type of detour, they can be painful and quite frankly scary at times. When I missed my turn last week, I was scared because not only was it dark- but I was unfamiliar with where I was. But- I decided to focus and once I began listening to my GPS, the Lord revealed to me how missing my turn was actually a good thing. He began to reveal to me 3 ways a detour can be a benefit to your life:

The first thing that God showed me was that, a detour causes you to pay attention. When I missed the turn I was supposed to take, I was actually focused on what the car ahead of me was doing. Ignoring my GPS, I decided to follow them- not realizing that my GPS wasn’t telling me to go that way.

After missing the turn- I sat up and began to focus on what the GPS voice was saying instead of what I thought was correct.

You see, God is our GPS. When we ignore him and what He’s saying- we will find ourselves on a path that we did not even anticipate. And while this seems crazy- God uses the unexpectant pathway to get our attention so that He can speak to us. God alone is our compass- and we must listen to Him.

The second thing God showed me was: a detour makes you look to what’s ahead. It was pitch black when I was driving. Occasionally, I would look in the rearview mirror to check if anyone was behind me. At times a care would be, but most times I only saw darkness. When that would happen, I quickly focused on the light that was ahead of me.

Just as I had to focus on what was ahead of me in the car, we must do the same in a spiritual detour. God will use a detour to get us to truly look at what’s ahead of us. Detours are God’s way of making us forget what lies behind, but press on to what lies ahead (Phillipians 3:13). During a detour season- the past has no place. Only the place where God is taking is taking you matters.

There is one last thing that God showed me about detours. And that is detours are not to harm you- but they are for your good. While we see them as scary- they aren’t. Our Father doesn’t lead us to a place that will harm you. Instead- He leads us beside still waters. And it is there that he restores our soul (Psalm 23). Our Father see’s a detour not as a step back, but as a stepping stone.

In fact- the turn I missed didn’t set me back at all. I eventually recognized where I was and grew comfortable with the new path I was taking. I knew that it was going to lead me home. Our Father wants to comfort us- because He is our ever present help. He’ll guide us.

As this post comes to an end, I’ll leave you all with a quote that my friend said one day as we texted about life and our current situations:

“Sometimes we gotta make detours before we finish the route.”

Did you get it?
I sure hope you did.

With a new love for detours,

Malaysia