“Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.”
James 1:2-4
I do not handle the thought of wasted time very well. I believe in filling every moment of every day with meaningful moments, tasks, and activities.
As I mature in my faith, I have been determined to believe and remember that for a Christ-follower who stays rooted in prayer and petition, no moment of time is wasted.
Something I pray for without ceasing is for the Lord’s protection and discernment, for myself and for those closest to me. Often, when we pray for the Lord’s protection, our answered prayers can occur at inconvenient moments.
This past summer, I traveled to Charleston with my mom and son, to visit members of my mom’s side of the family. We had been warned by our family members that traffic in the greater Charleston area gets very congested in the summer, and they had seen more than their share of auto accidents in recent months.
Before leaving for our trip, I fervently prayed for our physical protection as we traveled. It was a long drive down. We were not only delayed by traffic but also by several auto accidents during our journey. We were anxious to arrive at our hotel and begin spending time with our loved ones.
About an hour from our destination, the tire warning indicator came on in my mother’s vehicle. She was puzzled by this as she had recently had all four of her tires replaced. She reset the indicator thinking it may have been a false alarm, but again, the warning light came on.
Reluctant to travel any further without inspecting, we pulled off the nearest exit and into a gas station parking lot, where we checked all four tires for visible damage. All tires appeared fully inflated. We decided to continue traveling to our hotel in the hopes the tires would stay intact until we arrived.
We got back on the interstate and quickly encountered another traffic jam, one that was so recent that it did not register on our GPS yet. We called our family to let them know we would be delayed yet again. One of our family members checked the traffic alert app on her phone and saw that a wreck had occurred a few minutes before our phone call…
… right when my mom, my son and I would have been passing through that part of the interstate if we had not pulled over to check the tires on the vehicle.
A minor inconvenience on our journey may have saved us from being caught in the middle of a terrible traffic accident.
The tire indicator warning light continued to activate during the remainder of our drive. When we arrived in Charleston, we had the tires checked – all four were fully inflated, and none showed any signs of damage. It was determined the indicator light was faulty and needed to be reset once my mom returned from our trip.
“Consider it joy when you face trials…”
In reflecting on the mysterious ways in which God protects His children, I often reflect on the story of the birth of Jesus. Somethings that stands out to me about these Scriptures is that King Herod secretly summoned the wise men who were traveling east to meet baby Jesus, and ordered them to report the location of Christ when they returned. While appearing innocently eager to meet the Christ child, we know that Herod had jealous intentions of killing Jesus once He was found.
“And being warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they (the wise men) departed to their own country by another way.” – Matthew 2:12
When the wise men visited Jesus, we learn they were overcome with joy, that they fell and worshipped him. Then, the Holy Spirit laid it on the hearts of the wise men not to return to King Herod. The Holy Spirit intervened in their dreams in order to protect Christ.
We do not know how and why God works in the ways that He does. God’s protection does not always appear in obvious ways, nor does it always occur at convenient moments. But if we pray for God to have His hand upon us as we go about our day-to-day lives, we must learn to recognize that annoyances and aggravations are often the Lord’s protection in disguise.
“The Lord shall preserve you from all evil; He shall preserve your soul. The Lord shall preserve your going out and your coming in. From this time forth, and even forevermore.” – Psalm 121:7-8.
Our challenge as believers will be to view delays and disruptions as instances of joy. When moments we are looking forward to are postponed, when our plans are impeded, may we remember that this may very well be God’s way to keep us from harm – harm we may not even be able to detect.
God did not promise that life would always go smoothly for believers. We will face difficulties and nuisances just like non-believers will. But the difference will be that we have hope in these moments, we have purpose in these moments, and these moments can be used for our growth.
“Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all.” – Psalm 34:19.
Tracy Huneycutt has been a member of the Journey Church family since 2020. She enjoys serving food on Breakfast Sundays, teaching Kindergarten-2nd grade JKids, and being a part of the Moms Group. Her family consists of her husband, John, her son, Reid, and her Labrador, Suki. Tracy writes blogs and social media content as a copywriter and freelance marketing agent. She is blessed to have additional opportunities to write, especially to share the love and wisdom of the Father.