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In all your ways acknowledge him,
and he will make straight your paths.
Proverbs 3:6 ESV

Becoming widows three months apart was not something my mother and I ever thought would happen.

Our widow journeys are so very different. My parents lived together until they were nearly ninety, but my husband and I only had twenty years together. I was left with six kids at home, and her six kids were grown. But we both love investing in the lives of other widows.

Since her new path took shape, she has been visiting widows in our church, painting scenes on canvas, and driving the “widow car pool” to events at church. She totally supports me in my ministry in A Widow’s Might and gives our devotional book away to her friends.

Click here for information on the books and other resources.

As we were talking recently, she retold a story of traveling across the USA back in the early sixties. She was constantly running into “bumps” along the way. Car problems, record-breaking fog, flight delays, military personnel no-shows, etc. She was driving to California to fly with her five children to the Philippines, in order to meet up with her military-husband already stationed there.

In the first place, just being stationed in the Philippines was not as it should have been. My father broke his ankle playing softball and needed surgery and pins just before he and the family were being transferred to Germany. The military powers-that-be assured him that his assignment would be saved for him when he had healed sufficiently. Fast forward a few months and that assignment mysteriously disappeared. But something “similar” was available.

Similar? You call the assignment in the Philippines “similar”? So off to Clark Air Base they went.

At what point did my mother think, “Enough. Maybe God just wants us to stay here until Dad is finished with his assignment.” Families do that all the time in the military. What if she had stayed in California with family members? Was she meeting obstacles that meant, “Stop” or was she meeting opportunities that meant, “Keep trusting God for this”?

My mother kept plodding through the obstacles she believed the enemy may have been throwing at her to keep her from going to the Philippines. But why would the enemy care if she went there? The Philippines, really?

It was there my parents were confronted with serious Christians who changed the direction of my parent’s lives. It was there a “switch” was flipped in their hearts – they began to follow Christ in a new, real, life-changing way through the relationships they made with ministry workers. These friends are STILL part of my mom’s life. It propelled my parents into full-time Christian ministry after retirement from the military. It developed character in them like no other assignment in the military. And, I might add, I was born there in the Philippians. So it obviously was worth it!!

So you and your friend are sitting, chatting over a latte about your lives. You share about the turns your lives have taken. She asks your advice on an obstacle she is facing right now. What do YOU say to her? Is it an obstacle or opportunity?

Obstacles CAN be opportunities to trust God, either going forward or turning back.

I don’t believe there is any way to know for sure every time. I really don’t. In looking at Scripture, we see many examples of obstacles/opportunities. These examples show clearly how to acknowledge the Lord in all they did. Joseph hit obstacles when he thought he was being obedient in prison. Moses hit obstacles when he led the Israelites through the wilderness. Paul had many opportunities to trust God when he was shipwrecked or thrown in prison. You can probably think of many more.

I really just want to be so tuned into the Holy Spirit, when I hit obstacles, I will find opportunities to trust God going EITHER direction.

Today, God, I thank You for the obstacles I am going to encounter. You give me many opportunities to trust in You completely. Thank You for being trustworthy. I love You, Amen