In the early 1900’s, a lady named Lillian Trasher was about ten days away from getting married when she heard a missionary to India tell stories that wrecked her. She left that service crying knowing God had called her to be a missionary. Her soon to be husband felt called to be an evangelist and not a missionary. They called off the wedding and she boarded a ship headed for Egypt. Not long after arriving, a dying mom handed her a baby to care for. Word quickly spread that a woman took in orphans. Less than 50 years later she became known as the “Mother of the Nile” and had cared for over 25,000 children. Her orphanage is still caring for children over a hundred years later.
In Acts 27, Paul was on a ship headed for Rome to be tried by Caesar. They began to face strong winds that made it hard to keep the ship on course. Then a storm brewed that threatened the lives of everyone on board and the ship itself. The storm lasted for days. Finally an angel visited Paul to tell him he would still stand before Caesar, but the ship would be lost. They ran aground, the ship broke apart and everyone made it to shore on the island of Malta. Paul didn’t plan on going through a terrible storm or being rerouted to the island, but when he arrived, he preached the Gospel. To this day, the island celebrates the day Paul’s ship wrecked and over 90% of the people who live there are beliers today.
Paul penned these words in 2 Corinthians 4:8-9, “We are pressed on every side by troubles, but we are not crushed. We are perplexed, but not driven to despair. We are hunted down, but never abandoned by God. We get knocked down, but we are not destroyed” (NLT). Every one of us will face reroutes, divine wrecks and redirection on our way to fulfilling our calling. What seems like defeat, loss or delay may be God doing something you would have never done without the circumstance. You may be pressed, perplexed, knocked down and not understanding in the moment, but God has never abandoned you and has a divine purpose for every set back. His divine intervention can be inconvenient, but it is never wasted. Failed plans and closed doors are often God’s means of redirecting us to where He wants us. Instead of despairing, ask God to help you find the reason for the reroute.
Photo by Alexandra Nicolae on Unsplash
Devotions by Chris Hendrix 