Walk Right In

She yanked the covers over her head and let out a grumble of sincere annoyance. Our daughter’s calendar was flipped to day one of the dreaded week. And she asked me (again!) exactly why she had to spend four days of summer at … gasp… Public Speaking Camp!

From our angle, my husband and I saw a valuable opportunity. A skill that would serve her throughout life. A chance to hang out at her future high school with teachers and students. A big picture.

From her angle, the view was simply four days of summer at … gasp… Public Speaking Camp!

We understood her angst. We did. And we reassured her with the most cliché sentence in parenting history – “You’ll thank us later.” She wasn’t convinced.

As she approached the entrance of the high school, I rolled down the car window and bellowed a playful “Have fun!” She turned around with a smirk and a wave, jumped up clicking her heels together, and slipped into the building.

Ah. Like chocolate for a mother’s soul. Somewhere deep within that sweet, eye-rolling teenager was the glow of trust. Trust that our intentions were for good. Only for good.

I remember some trips down that same path… walking toward a door I had no desire to enter. Looking to God for answers thinking, “Seriously?” Maybe you have been there too.

Although there is nothing easy about facing the unknown, the unwelcome, we can find courage in trusting that God sees the whole picture and covers us with His boundless love. Even when we just don’t get it.

One of my gotta listen to it at least once a day favorite songs, Trust in You by Lauren Daigle, beautifully illustrates this peaceful surrender to God’s plan, God’s greater purpose:

When You don’t move the mountains I’m needing you to move. When You don’t part the waters I wish I could walk through. When You don’t give the answers as I cry out to You. I will trust, I will trust, I will trust in You!

Throughout our lives we will find ourselves standing at doors we would rather not enter, down paths we didn’t choose. But God is good and he knows what is good for us. He will hold the door open, and after we kick up our heels… He will walk in right beside us.

“God’s will is what we would choose if we knew what God knows.” Nancy Leigh DeMoss

PS. In case you’re wondering, Public Speaking Camp was a success! Her dazzling review after the first day was, “That wasn’t as horrible as I thought it was going to be.” She could be an advertisement for next year – ha ha.