Day 3: "The Backroads" - His Presence in Our Lonely Moments

Something that really shook me when walking out of Jane's diagnosis was the loneliness I was experiencing. I'm social by nature, so I am constantly surrounded by people (even if it's just my other two daughters). I thrive on the crowd, and it was hard for me to comprehend walking a road of late-night meds, doctor's appointments, and hard conversations that my friends really couldn't experience with me. In addition, Jane had some severe sensory issues in her younger years that often left us retreating to quiet rooms during family holidays, get-togethers, and church. It was completely against my nature.

It was beyond me that anyone would choose this life of isolation, but I was struck one day that Jesus often purposely took the "backroads." He withdrew to the Father, and He sought out paths not previously taken to hear God clearer and meet people He would otherwise not meet.

Our "backroads" can feel like a punishment, but if we look at them how Jesus saw them, they can be opportunities. There are nurses we would never know if we didn't walk these roads. There are fellow parents in the quiet rooms at church who need hope maybe even more than we do, and we may have otherwise never seen them. Our late nights doing soiled laundry and managing seizures can be exhausting and devastating, but they can also be windows of time into hearing the voice of God in ways we would never hear Him during the busyness of our "normal" day. Going along with "life as we know it" is really comfortable, but it doesn't always afford us to see the people we need to see and hear the words we need to hear. We are most likely to see these opportunities when we give space to the quiet and solitary moments.

Prayer:

Even when it feels like I am all alone or no one has walked the road I am on, thank you, God, that you have gone before me. Help me to feel your presence in my lonely moments. And help me to see the people you’ve placed on paths like mine. Let me not be so inward-focused that I miss the gold in my times of solitude.

Declaration:

He has gone before me no matter what path I find myself on. I am never truly alone because He is always with me!