Editors’ Note: Today we’re blessed to have Anna Smith as our guest blogger for “Family & Friends Friday.” Anna and her husband Andrew are one of our missionary couples sent out by Webster Bible Church. Anna spent her childhood in Walworth, New York and began attending Webster Christian School in her tenth-grade year. Just one year later, she met Andrew — a missionary kid who was to attend Webster Christian School for one year while his family was on furlough from Papua New Guinea. They became good friends and, seven years later, were married.
Currently, Anna and Andrew live in Arizona where Andrew is receiving training to be a missionary pilot and mechanic. They hope to be moving overseas to serve with Ethnos360 Aviation in 2022. Today’s article is an excerpt from one of their monthly updates. Andrew and Anna are one of the sharpest young couples I know. Our church is thrilled to be partnering with them in this great work. If you would like more information about Andrew’s and Anna’s ministry, please search for “Smith’s Mission Aviation Journey” on Facebook or email them at smithmissions123@gmail.com.
I chuckled to myself as once again little Eli lead me up a small knoll where he anticipated finding some dried-up weeds that would make a satisfying crunch under his little toddler shoes.
Since we live in a place where crunchy, dead plants are readily available, Eli often ends up walking in circles as he locates and steps on the most convenient cruncher while at the same time continuing his forward motion.
As I walked with him this particular morning, moving slowly in circles around the parking lot, I began to think about how sometimes walking with God can feel like being lead in circles.
We have had so many delays and twists in our plans along the way and yet Andrew and I both agree, they have always been for the better. While it may seem that the journey is random and round-about as the things we pursue are delayed or changed, I wonder if it is really a straight line from God’s perspective.
What if God, in all His wisdom & love, has a straight path of sanctification set before us? And all those curves and detours are not really taking us out of the way but are designated points on the journey God has for us.
Often, our circumstances may not make sense to us or seem ideal at the moment but, looking back, we can almost always easily identify a crucial lesson He taught us through them. I can journey in quiet confidence knowing that HIS way will always trump ours. Truly, “The heart of a man plans his way, but the LORD establishes his steps.” (Proverbs 16:9)