"Detours to the Destination" by Steven Furtick

I read the following blog this morning by a Steven Furtick, Lead Pastor of Elevation Church in North Carolina.  It was an incredible reminder of God restoring - a theme that I sense God teaching and reminding me of this whole week.  Enjoy.

The LORD blessed the latter part of Job’s life more than the first. After this, Job lived a hundred and forty years; he saw his children and their children to the fourth generation. And so he died, old and full of years.
Job 42:12, 16-17

When most people think of Job, the first picture that enters into their minds is of a man marked by misery. That’s natural, considering it’s the theme of Job 1-41. But it’s also misguided because it doesn’t take into account Job 42.

Job’s story doesn’t end on a note of misery. The final word on Job is not on his pain. His loss. His questioning. Or really anything on the forty-one chapters that precede. It’s an affirmation that Job lived a full life. An affirmation that despite appearances, God never for a second abandoned Job or changed His mind about Job’s final destination.

The story of Job is more than a story about a guy who lost everything he cared about. It’s also about a man who regained it. A man who ended up dying the way he wanted. The way any of us would want.

But not the way he or any of us would have planned.

He died surrounded by family. But it was a family that God had to recreate after he lost his first.
He regained all of his possessions, and even had them doubled. But not before he had to lose everything he had worked his whole life for.

Job’s final destination did not come without detours. And it’s the detours that have the chance to derail our lives more than anything else. Not because God is incapable of handling them or can’t see them coming. But because we cling so tightly onto the path we think we’re supposed to take to get to where God wants us to be.

The single greatest thing standing in-between you and God’s plan for your life is not just your preconceived notion of what that life itself should be. It’s also your preconceived notion of the road you should take to get there.

And it’s a notion you have to let go of.

You might lose your job. You may go through a period of marital unrest where it looks like everything is going to unravel. You may have to move to a place you hate for a season. And you may even have to face an unforeseen illness that threatens your life or the life of someone you love.

Whatever it is, detours are inevitable.

But just because God takes you on a detour, it doesn’t mean He’s changed His mind about your destination. The final word on your life is not going to be the detours you experience. It’s going to be the destination God uses them to take you to.