Like a lot of military families, our family loves to travel, see new places, and meet new people. However, we all know that some trips are better than others. It’s been my experience that the trips that we think are going to be the easy ones sometimes turn out to be the trickiest.
We found ourselves on a journey like that in 2008. We were preparing to move to Germany for our second time. The first time, we’d lived in three homes, had a baby, and my husband had deployed from there. We, along with our three children, thought we were very well prepared. Within a few weeks of arriving, it became clear that this was not going to be like our previous tour. There was a lot going on in both our unit and the community that was not healthy, and we were headed into a deployment. In addition, we learned that we were expecting our fourth child. Surprise! So far this trip was not going quite as I’d planned.
We then entered a deployment that was similar to being in a car wreck at least once a month. Something terrible would happen; we would attempt to make it as right as possible, and then something else would happen. The Lord was gracious and carried us through, but there were some very tough days during that time. In the midst of this chaos, my sweet baby Josh was born. He was a huge blessing from the day he arrived. Everyone held and loved him, and always commented on how he was just a perfect baby.
Eight months later, my husband and the rest of the unit returned home safely. We were so thrilled to be back together as a family, and really ready to get back to life as normal. However, within a month, my sweet, perfect baby Josh was diagnosed with Down’s syndrome at 9 months of age.
So what do we do when the journey doesn’t go as expected? What examples does Scripture give of people who found themselves on a journey where they weren’t sure of the outcome?
The Apostle Paul is an excellent example of someone who trusted in the Lord with all his heart, every step of his journey. The letters he wrote attest to all the places he visited, and his heart beat with the urgent need to follow the Lord’s calling to spread the Gospel. He didn’t seem particularly concerned with how he got to those places – by his own free will, with a shipwreck en route, or in chains. He only prayed that God would be magnified in his body, either by his life or death.
Hebrews 12:2 tells us to look “unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” I’ve understood for a while now that Jesus is the author of our faith, but I’ve only recently begun to understand that He is the finisher. He gets to decide when we are finished. We don’t get to tell Him when we are done, or when we don’t want to do something anymore. It’s up to Him to decide the end, because only He knows where we’re going and what we need to look like when we are finished.
As we continue on our unexpected journey with Josh, we have really tried to focus on what Josh can do, rather than what he can’t. As a result, we’ve experienced several unexpected blessings. We have met people we never would have otherwise. We have also grown in our compassion for others. Our biggest desire is that God would be glorified through our family as we walk on this unexpected journey with Josh. We know that there will be detours and rough spots, but I also know that in God’s wisdom, we are going to arrive when and where he wants us to. And our desire as a family is to follow Him.
I took my kids to church camp in North Carolina. The two teens were getting ready for their service as junior counselors, so I dropped them off a day early. The younger boys and I had an afternoon, evening, and the next morning before dropping of the 10-year-old for his first camp experience. We were able to swim at the camp pool that afternoon, and they wanted to try out their new goggles. When one set of cheap goggles broke, a squabble broke out over the remaining pair. ”Mine!” “No, mine!” So Mom stepped in: “Mine. I paid for it. It belongs to me.”
