Эдди Мелсон призывает не бояться жизненных отклонений, а доверяться божьему расписанию

Don't Fear The Scenic Route - Edie Melson — Carol McLeod Ministries Have you ever noticed that God loves the scenic route? I grew up in a creative family. My dad was a classically trained musician. He played for years in the Dallas Symphony and was a professor at SMU and then at UTArlington. After he had a heart attack he took his hobby and became a world class landscape photographer, selling and showing his photos across the country. My mother was also a well-known artist, first in watercolor and then in mixed media, with art in collections all over the world. I grew up in the 60s. Some of my earliest memories are of traveling across the united states, looking at life from the rear view window of a VW bug. When my sister was born, our family went from three to four and our parents traded in the VW Bug for a VW Bus. Oh the places we visited. I’ve been out west in a blizzard so fierce we had to scrape ice from the inside of the car windows. I’ve cooked an egg on the pavement in Death Valley, and spent several nights camping at what used to be the top of Mount St. Helens. But only a small percentage of our time on the road was spent on major highways. No, Daddy’s preferred method of travel was the Scenic Route. It became a family joke. We all knew better than to wonder out loud where a side road went. That was all the excuse our father needed to head out toward unknown adventure. Sometimes that adventure was exciting, ending with amazing vistas and views that my photographer father captured on film. Other times . . . well . . . not so much. I remember one afternoon all too well. We’d headed off down a road and gotten stuck in the mud. The road was little more than a dirt path and this was decades before cell phones. While we waited to get unstuck, my mother turned to my sister and I, “Pray” she said. “Pray like you’ve never prayed before.” Sure enough, just as the sun was racing toward the horizon, a huge truck, complete with towing package, rounded the bend. The man at the wheel was as surprised to see us as we were to see him. He pulled us out in no time, refusing the money my dad tried to give him. When mom pushed, asking to know why he’d come down this road, he tipped back his cowboy hat and scratched his head. “I can’t really say. It just seemed like something I needed to do.” That was one of my first introductions to the power of prayer, and I’ve never forgotten it. I’ve also never forgotten something else. The joy is in the journey, not just the destination. Through the years I’ve come to realize there are a lot of similarities between God and my daddy. I know, that’s backward, but bear with me while I make a point! My Heavenly Father also likes to take the scenic route. He’ll drag me places I think are miles out of the way, putting my goal further and further from reach. Then boom, we round a corner and there stands what I was aiming for all along. Or He leads me down a path that leaves me bogged down for months, and it’s only when look back that I see that time of stillness was what I needed. So often it’s in the mud that my hardest lessons and greatest joys have been realized. Take a look at the path you’re on right now. You may feel like you’re getting nowhere fast. But truthfully, you’re right on God’s schedule.  7 Attitudes we need to abandon when we hit a detour: - Waiting too long to get started. I talk to people every day who have reasons they’re postponing parts of their lives. They don’t see the delay as the excuse it is. We all have “reasons” not to follow the path and the dreams we have in our hearts. I believe God whispered those things to us in our souls. We were created for a purpose. And it’s there inside, calling to us, we just have to decide to take the next step - Refusing to be patient. Yes, it’s bad to put off beginning, but we shouldn’t go into the next part of life expecting instant results. There’s no timetable with God. It takes as long as it takes. As long aswe’re doing our best to follow God, He will honor that. He’s not standing around in Heaven, whispering to the angels about how dense we are about doing what we should. How do I know that? Just look with me at Acts 16, verses 6 – 10. We see twice where Paul was headed in one direction and the Holy Spirit either forbade them to go or turned them. Notice what’s NOT in this passage. No where in here does it say Paul did something wrong. Paul is not disciplined or criticized. Instead, God corrects Paul’s path so Paul can go the way God wants him to go. - Comparing ourselves to others. There will always be people who appear to have it easier. But none of us knows what’s gone before. I need to focus on my own journey. Comparisons lead to dissatisfaction and unrealistic expectations. - Trying to do too much at once. Multitasking as a way to get things done is a lie. Yes, we can have several projects going in the same timeframe, but we cannot work on them simultaneously. Part of learning to follow God through the detours involves learning the art of setting priorities. Instead, I’m embracing the practice of Single-tasking - I’m learning to clear away the distractions - I’m taking time to enjoy the process - I’m filling up my spirit by making spending time with God the priority - Refusing to change. Instead of growing and adapting, this mindset expects the world to adapt to them. - Focusing on the negative. We live in a broken world. Detours and roadblocks will come. We can choose to live in the negative, complaining and whining, or we can learn from the struggle and move forward. - Waiting for perfection. Being patient is good. Expecting to someday be perfect is a pipedream. We try to do better today than yesterday, and even better tomorrow. We do the best we’re capable of and keep moving. Perfection is a sinkhole that leads to nothing but defeat and failure.