Have you ever been in a situation that was completely unplanned? One of those situations where you had some place to be and something happened that completely threw you off of your schedule? Maybe traffic was awful one day making you late to an appointment. Maybe you were halfway to where you needed to be but realized you forgot something that was absolutely necessary to have and had to turn around making you late. Or how about when your flight gets delayed so much that it makes you miss your connecting flight and you get stuck in a city you had never step foot in until that very moment? That one sounded specific didn’t it? It is because that happened to me earlier this month.
So, there I was, sitting in the airport realizing I was not making my connecting flight and ended up being stuck in Detroit for New Years. I was frustrated, confused, asking God why on earth this happened to me. I was not doing anything wrong. I was actually on my way to a Christian conference in Atlanta. And this happens. I remember sitting there so mad I wanted to just go home and abandon the conference altogether. Then I remember a conversation I had with this man at the first airport while we both were waiting for our delayed flight to finally get there. He said, and this is paraphrased, “We’re all sitting here probably wondering why this is happening. But we shouldn’t be asking why, but what. We should be asking, ‘What is this happening for?’” Sitting in that Detroit airport I remembered that conversation. Instead of asking God why, I decided to ask Him, “God what is this happening for? Who am I supposed to cross paths with? What are You doing in this moment?” Crazy enough the next morning, on a 5:00 am flight, I run into that same guy. And we sat there and talked about how beautiful moments like these are because God is somehow moving in them. He was the guy I was supposed to meet and it was incredible.
When you are in those situations, when you want to ask why, stop for a moment, and ask what. God will show you, and you will be amazed.
Life & Faith 