Dear Reader:

Today I ended up on one of those writing expeditions where I started in one direction, got detoured to another, and then returned to the original plans…a whirlwind for sure…but quite satisfying! On days like this I just have to hang on for the ride.

An interesting subject-area devotional popped up on my Iphone centered around the idea of how it is the unexpected detours in our planned lives that best develop the strength of our character within…letting others see the real us.

When I typed in: “finding hope and strength in unexpected places” the book Anchored popped up by Kayla Aimee. After reading a quick synopsis on the book…I was fascinated by her story.

Kayla had only counted off 24 of the 40 weeks of her pregnancy when she went into labor…and her world was turned upside down.

When swept into a story of suffering, we all find ourselves vulnerable, questioning everything we thought we knew as we wonder, “Where is God in this?” With everything feeling as fragile as her one and a half pound daughter, Kayla finds herself asking that same question as she faces  her greatest fear: that she may have finally become a mother just to lose her only child. 

As I read more excerpts from the book…I could feel the author’s strength growing through her writings…and wonderful sense of humor as her own personal “awakening” with God began to come together. Here is one sample of her new way of thinking and accepting the trials of life.

“I did not want this story. I wanted a fairy tale, with a Once Upon a Time and They Lived Happily Ever-after. But even  fairy tales would not exist without the dark places. Beauty without the Beast is just another pretty face. Sleeping Beauty without the spindle is just a story about a girl who takes a ridiculously long nap. ” 

In a later reflection on her experiences Kayla wrote:

“The strong was not in the stoic or the stiff shoulders or the sweet singing of hymns in praise. The strong was in giving in to the weakest and finding a grace so sufficient, it redeemed the worst.”

After finding this beautiful detour of this amazing young woman’s journey of faith…I redirected myself back to the original devotional that had started the quest for ‘finding hope in unexpected places.’

Hope in the Light of the Unexpected (Rachel Macy Stafford, from Only Love Today)

Stafford asks the question in her devotional that we all have asked ourselves? Where do we go when we reach the end of our ropes… when all our best-laid plans are smoldering in ashes around our feet? When we find ourselves wanting to build a cocoon and climb inside to stay there forever? Now what, God, now what?

Several years ago I was telling a story each day to go along with the theme of Vacation Bible School as part of a kick-off ceremony. For the first (and only time since) I had put on a long robe and dressed up as a Biblical character. I started down the aisle and just as I reached the front pew, I tripped on the hem of the gown and fell sideways hitting my upper left arm against the wooden side piece of the pew.

I saw stars…the pain was excruciating! I knew instantly that something was “bad” wrong but I was so embarrassed I picked myself up, told the story, and then left. I called my sweet mother-in-law, Dee Dee, and asked her to drive me to the hospital. I couldn’t move that arm.

My upper arm was broken and it was pretty painful. It was the start of summer and I had all these workshops planned and trips to Georgia Southern for an art show my daughter Mandy was in and she was receiving an honor. I was really down…no swimming…keeping driving to a minimum. Just buying groceries required a lot of help from the grocery boy and I was not used to or comfortable with that kind of assistance.

All my plans died for that summer with that one silly fall. Dee Dee would come over and help me with bathing that arm and getting dressed…an angel for sure. Suddenly my invincible me had become quite vincible. It was a lesson that stuck with me forever.

We are all one step or trip or diagnosis away from life-altering changes. It is how we respond to those changes that will define us in our life-time. It is during these turbulent times that we have the opportunity to bond with God. Have you ever noticed that it is during our most trying times that our communication with God is the most real…the most poignant…the most significant and life-altering.

We have shed our outer layers and shown God and others around us who we really are underneath.

So until tomorrow…as Rachel Stafford observes: We don’t have to feel that we must solve every problem immediately or fill in every blank in life..instead “I’m finding there is divine peace in acknowledging I don’t have to have it all figured out.”

My students used to write “D.K.” in blanks they didn’t know. It took me awhile to figure out it stood for “Don’t Know.” It is time for us, as adults, to admit to God, also, that we “Don’t Know” (D.K.) what to do and that we need His help.

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

*Starting to get some bunnies and flowers ready for Easter!