God Will Make a Way

God Will Make a Way

Have you ever noticed how looking at something from a different angle, or a different direction, completely changes what you see? Like most of us, I have a smart phone that is equipped with a mapping program that can show me exactly how to get anywhere I wish to go – just by asking for directions from the all-knowing Siri!

Recently, my daughter drove from Omaha to Pensacola, Florida. Because she was sharing her location with me, I could watch her progress on the map on my phone. However, by clicking on a different option, I could see her location from a satellite view! I could literally see trees, lakes, and businesses passing by on the highway as she moved from Nebraska, through many states, arriving at my grandson’s home in Pensacola! The perspective from the satellite view was much different than seeing her progress on a flat map. I could see when she was stopped at a gas station, and literally how long she stayed there. I could even tell that she was shopping a long time at Bucee’s on the way!

In a small group I attend, we’ve recently been discussing our way through a little book called “The Red Sea Rules” by Robert J. Morgan. This book is based on the story of the Children of Israel facing the Red Sea during their exodus from slavery in Egypt. Drawing from this Bible story, the author presents ten strategies for facing difficulties in our lives.

At some point in time, it’s likely that we’ve faced a Red Sea before us, and an army of sorts behind us. My personal Red Sea threatened to send me into panic mode! When Dave was diagnosed with an aggressive, fast-growing, malignant tumor in his neck, I felt like I couldn’t breathe. He was scheduled for his first major surgery to remove and rebuild what the cancer was affecting. We knew the journey ahead of us looked impossible, impassable, and we didn’t really know what monsters lived in that unknown ocean. But, neither could we go back to where we had been! The “army” of cancer cells was growing rapidly and was pressing us forward. Death seemed imminent from every direction. Even though we knew God was with us, the situation seemed so impossible that we felt paralyzed.

It’s at a time like this that we try to remember and lean on the scriptures that promise God will always be with us, that He will never forsake us, that His Presence will surround us … and that He will make a way thru the sea ahead of us.

As I was reading, thinking, praying, and wrestling with this question recently, I struggled with what that way through the sea really had been. Dave was not healed, which is what we were praying for. He suffered greatly, and I spent 8 months as a very fulltime caregiver. My question to God was this: “It doesn’t seem as though You provided a way through that situation in front of us. He was not healed. I became a widow. We struggled and suffered. If you provided a way, what did it look like?”

I took time to sit quietly and listen and, yes, to journal what I felt God was speaking to me about that situation. What He helped me to understand is that the way through the impossible situation in front of us doesn’t always look like we expect it to! We expected that Dave’s cancer would disappear, that he wouldn’t be sick from the chemo and radiation, and that he would be restored to health. So, what did that pathway look like for us?

For me, it was learning about medications and treatments, wound care and nutrition, managing complex schedules, medication dosages and tube feed preparation. I learned to do nursing care that included procedures that would have been impossible for me to do in any other situation. I learned that God gives grace to do what you need to when you need to do it.  He made a way for me to learn and accomplish those things, even with no nursing or medical background!

For Dave, it looked different. God gave him grace to suffer incredible pain and discomfort without complaining. He couldn’t talk or swallow for 8 months, and he managed it gracefully. When he went into each radiation treatment, he had a form-fitting mask over his face, was bolted to the table, and had his hearing aids and glasses removed – left completely alone in the room. During every treatment, the Lord sent angels to sing old hymns from his childhood to bring him comfort as he lay there.

From the perspective of five years later, I can finally see the pathway that God used to get us through that. We were covered in His grace, because His plan was so much more than we knew at the time. Dave would go on to be with Him, and I would go on to found Refocusing Widows…neither of which would have happened had He made the way through that we thought we wanted.

As they stood there on the shores of the Red Sea, what do you suppose the Israelites were expecting would happen? Did they think Moses would have them build rafts to float across? Did they expect to be completely annihilated? Were their eyes on their God who had just performed many miracles to get them out of Egypt? Or were their eyes on the sea ahead of them and the army behind them? There are many lessons we can take away from this story of supernatural deliverance.

I recently read the following: “There’s no going back or undoing what’s been done. One can only live life forward.” We may wish for many things in our past to be different, but we can’t go back and change anything. Widows, especially, are vulnerable to becoming stuck in the pain and grief surrounding the loss of a spouse. That’s when it becomes critical for us to embrace our present situation and realize that no matter what we have faced in the past or what lies ahead of us, God will get us through it.

So, as we look at this problem of facing the Red Sea with an army behind, what does your Red Sea look like? Can you see a way through it yet? It often takes a great deal of faith to take the first step, testing to see if there truly IS dry ground for you to walk on. Perhaps your Red Sea is now behind you. Did God make the way you wanted to see? If not, how did He part the waters and make a way for you?

In Isaiah, God gives some promises to us:

Isaiah 43:16, ESV “Thus says the LORD, who makes a way in the sea, a path in the mighty waters,” Isaiah 41:10, ESV “Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.” Isaiah 43:19, NIV “See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.”

Regardless of what you face today, or how hopeless your situation looks, God promises to be with you and to make a way through it. Not only that, but He promises that He is doing a completely new thing in you!

As always, your thoughts and comments are welcome here or you can email me at sheryl@freshhope.us. If you’re looking for a new purpose and a pathway to move ahead, please consider joining one of our Refocusing Widows groups, either in person or online. You can register online at www.refocusingwidows.org/Groups. We look forward to meeting you!