"Life Is A Highway"

I have been traveling with my husband, daughter-in-law, and granddaughter.  We are on our way to see my son graduate from Basic Training.  I am very excited!  The closer we get the more my excitement grows, causing tears to well up as I think of finally getting to see him.  We are in St. Louis, Missouri, not quite 2 hours from Fort Leonard Wood, where he has been this past 9 weeks.  While passing through Ohio, we drove over a lengthy and bumpy stretch of highway.  Sometimes life is like that.  There are stretches along life's highway that are just difficult and seem to go on forever.  We have been through such a time with our son.  

From birth our son has been a strong-willed and independent individual, which has often made parenting him challenging.  When he entered adolescence, particularly his mid to late teens, those challenges increased and grew in intensity.  He made a series of rash and foolish decisions that had serious, life-altering consequences.  Actually, all decisions, rash or otherwise, result in life-altering consequences to one degree or another.  The decisions Nathan made carried the potential of devastating loss to himself and others.  Loss of relationship, of livelihood, of freedom, of his physical and mental well-being, even of life and limb, were all very real possibilities.  

At times his father and I were at a loss as to what to do or say.  All we could do was pray and trust God that He would protect and preserve Nathan and bring him through this bumpy patch of road.  As we rounded each bend in the road and continued to see more of the same it sometimes became difficult to do even that.  My husband became depressed and withdrawn.  Many times I felt as if I was carrying this burden alone.  Of course I wasn't, but that was how I felt.  I wanted to talk to my best friend, but he was so overwhelmed by everything with our son that he could only function in survival mode; basic self-preservation: sleep, work, and eat just enough to sustain life.  

At some point, in the midst of the stress, strife, and struggle of life on the home front, I went through a difficult year at work, as well.  I was contemplating leaving my job and went so far as to inform my principal that I might not return after summer vacation.  I considered employment elsewhere, but nothing opened up for me.  I did not have the option of retiring.  As September approached, I was afraid of what the school year would bring.  There was no apparent change at home and I did not think I could handle another year at work like the one before, but I had to find a way.  Whatever happened at home or at work, I had to find a way to cope.  

Coping was made easier by the strong support system I had among my friends and spiritual family at church and at work, and among certain members of my physical family.  I am eternally grateful to God for this great blessing.  Through it all, God kept me in the palm of His hand.  Through it all, His peace sustained me.  Difficult though it was, God was (is) my strong tower, my place of refuge.  Safe within this protected place of peace I know everything will work out no matter how it may appear, no matter how long it takes.  In the midst of it all has been His peace and the hope (like an anchor to my soul) that this difficulty would pass and that God would bring good out of it.  

Good has come out of some of it, but even though things have been better lately on all fronts, I know we are not in the clear yet.  I have traveled down life's highway long enough to know that the way is never smooth forever.  Rough road happens.  You can't always get around it, sometimes you just have to go through it.  The thing is, you never have to go through it alone.  You can stand in the peace the love of God provides and underneath it all are His everlasting arms.  The way will not always be smooth but His peace will get you through the rough places.  Even so, sometimes the way is just hard and all you can do is strap yourself in and ride it out.  As you travel down life's highway, you can do so joyfully if you remember God not only goes with you, He has gone before you and has prepared the way.  He is not surprised by the rough patches in the road, He knows the way.  He is the way!  Life is a highway, buckle up.