Life throws us curve balls and they are hard to hit.  The unexpected is to be expected.  Our plans are the plans of men and they do not account for the unexpected.

Often the unexpected appears as a detour, a heartache, a distraction.  But is it really?  Might it not be good fortune, something which refocuses or redirects us?  Could it be God’s hand at work to help us exceed out narrow vision and see where we are needed and where our happiness is to be fulfilled?

Think about Moses.

A poor Jewish child is discovered in a basket by Pharaoh’s daughter and adopted by her. He is raised in the royal family and in his adulthood he kills an Egyptian who was abusing a Jew and flees to the desert lest he be found out. He remained in the desert for 40 years tending a herd of sheep.  Hardly a plan that Moses could ever have created.

Yet, after his 40 year exile God calls him through a burning bush to serve a most unexpected task: to deliver the Hebrews from Egyptian captivity.

From adoption to flight to exile to liberator, this is not the plan a man creates.

You see the things which are most unexpected are often the greatest gifts, and God’s intervention into your life as you, mere mortal, conceived of it.

When your plans are interrupted do not judge the intervening facts at the time that is contemporaneous with the “trespass” on your plans.  No, wait.  See what new space the intervening circumstance creates for you to move to – for that is where you will find success and happiness – go to the new created space.  Do not resist.  You will find in time that the ill-wind is a blessed breeze to get you to change to a course that you would never have designed for yourself, that exceeds in time anything you could have imagined.

In short, God is a better planner than we are.  Do not fear.  See the space and move to the Light.

And he looked, and behold, the bush was burning with fire, yet the bush was not consumed.

Ex 3:2

God speaks to us through unusual circumstances and the unexpected difficulty. Take heed.  Ask what is this interruption telling me?  Where is the Light directing me?

Have confidence in God who has given you an identity and skills which are sacred gifts and intended to be used for your happiness in the service of others – to promote their well being and your own.  We are all called to do God’s will and therein lies the joy of living and our happiness.

Go to the space and the Light.  Difficulties often give divine direction.