Life is a Highway

We all have different roads to travel in life. Some are easy ones, without any bumps and hills. Other roads are exactly the opposite; they put us in mind of a Six Flags roller coaster ride. There are roads where there are multitudes of other people traveling with you…and yet sometimes, we feel as if we are the only ones on a particular path. It is this latter road that I am on, and I would like to share my journey thus far with you.

When a young man or woman ends high school, there comes the inevitable question, “What are you going to do about college?” Most of us, then, begin the process of finding a university, deciding on our major, and then we pack up to begin the “expected” next stage of life, with plenty of people doing the same thing. Call me a rebel, but I have found that there is another exit for me. It reads: Stay At Home until Marriage with an unknown mileage marker. After much prayer and counsel, I am firmly convinced that is the exit I need to take. So, I wave good-bye to friends as they take their exit and I take mine.

However, no sooner have I begun going down this road than I meet with opposition. My cell phone rings incessantly. “Gabrielle, this is _____. Did I possibly hear you right? Have you opted not to attend college? That is absolutely madness! What about making something of yourself? How will you meet your future husband? You have just written your death sentence with your decision; you are going to regret it!” This call is one repeated over and over again, as people give me their opinions on how I need to be living my life. “What about your cousin, _____? Doesn’t their life hold everything? They graduated with a degree in _____ and have a great job ahead of them. What do you have…baking and cleaning?” Whether these people know it or not, they cause me to wonder if I have taken the wrong exit. After all, I see very few cars traveling on the road I am…and I like driving where there are people!

I contemplate turning around. My family and I haven’t always thought this way regarding college anyway. I read a book called So Much More that revolutionized my thinking. I analyzed if college was really the right thing for me, as a girl who wants to be under Dad’s authority. I consulted with my parents, and between what I was thinking and what they were also, we decided it wasn’t best for me. But did that matter? Everyone else was doing college; surely there was no harm in it. However, I didn’t feel at peace with turning around either.

I pulled over for a minute and just was still. In that quiet moment, I recalled a song that I absolutely love by Steven Curtis Chapman. The chorus and bridge go something like this, “So believe Me now. Believe Me here. Remember all the times I’ve told you loud and clear I am with you, and I am for you. I never have, I never will, abandon you. I am the God who never wastes a single hurt that you endure. My words are true and all my promises are sure. So, believe Me now.” I let those lyrics play around in my head once more. How could I be second guessing what I knew I had to do? Sure, most of my peers had a different goal and destination programmed in their GPS system, but mine wasn’t any less important. The world might say it is, but God told me to take this road, and I had better believe and obey Him. “Okay, Lord. I know beyond a shadow of a doubt you have called me to take this road, yet I feel so alone. Keep me committed to traveling this way. I know there is a future and a hope on the other side; it is just going to take some pain to get there. Help me make it, especially when the world encourages something other than You and Your ways.”

With that, I start the ignition and drive on, staying with my original exit. I play some of the messages that were on my phone. “Oh, Gabrielle! College is a blast! I love being in a sorority, my exams were decent, and I have an incredible boyfriend. Don’t you envy me?” By God’s grace, the message didn’t bother me. I realized that I have my own fun “pit stops” ahead. I plan on studying what I enjoy, yet without the pressure and stress of exams. I will do things with friends, though it will not be all consuming; my family will take top priority. And Lord willing, I hope to have ONE guy when all is said and done. Golly, it looks like a fun schedule to me!

I know I still will have struggles. They are daily, even hourly, sometimes. The road I have chosen to walk won’t be understood by many, Christians among them. However, I know that I haven’t taken a wrong turn, and there isn’t a bug in my GPS. I am right where God wants me for now.

I do not know where you are on life’s highway. Perhaps you have decided to take the university drive, and I wish you all the best. Yet maybe there are a few of you who like me, have taken the alternative route. May I encourage you that you are not alone! I am somewhere on the road too!

Blessings to ALL of you as you embark on the paths ahead of you. May your steps lead to the Master and His ultimate destination! Enjoy the ride!