My mother enjoyed painting. Her paintings were all over our house. One picture was of a road that wound around a curve and disappeared into the distance.
I asked my mother where the road went. Instead of telling me, she asked me, “Where do you think the road goes?” I would come up with various destinations and tell her all about them. She would ask me questions to help me make more complete scenes in my mind. And then she would tell me what she saw. We spent many happy hours traveling that road together.
As I was nearing college and considering an uncertain future, I asked her again, “Where does the road go, Mother?” She smiled and said, “It can go anywhere you would like it to go, Carolyn. But be sure to ask God for the directions!”
She never forced her views on me. She gently guided me and allowed me to choose the roads I chose in life, even when some were not the roads she would have chosen for me. The journey was always easier when I asked God for directions. (And thank God — He allows U turns!)
After my mother died, I felt lost. I had lost my traveling companion. I didn’t know what would be around the next bend or on the other side of the hill.
I asked her where the road went. Immediately I heard her answer in my spirit. “It can go anywhere you would like it to go, Carolyn. But be sure to ask God for the directions!”
And then she added, “I’m just a little ahead of you. But you’ll catch up. Keep going!”
Every valley shall be filled in, every mountain and hill made low. The crooked roads shall become straight, the rough ways smooth. Luke 3:5
