“We know that God is able to bring something good out of every circumstance, as long as we trust Him and remain true to the purpose for which He called us.” – Romans 8:28
We were at a cross road and unable to determine which direction we were required to take. Biking that day had been great! My family and I had been exploring and cycling all through the mountain train trestle routes in British Columbia, and now was our time to hit the steep slopes down into the city and back to our hotel; one problem...the map we had didn’t show us which direction to take because some roads were cut off. My instincts told me to take the road to the right that had a steeper downhill; my uncle`s sense of direction, however, told us to venture straight ahead.
We all took the path that my uncle suggested and biked about 2 miles out when we saw a car stopped in the middle of the gravel road. Arriving closer to the car we found that he wasn’t stopped to look at the scenery, but rode right over a hole about a foot and a half to two feet deep. The front lights of the car were smashed and there was no way he was going to get the back end of the car over the rut. My uncle and dad immediately dispersed off the bikes and went to find logs, rocks, and other materials to build a bridge the car could cruise over; meanwhile the man in the car was complaining to my aunt, brother and I about the lack of road work in the mountains. We smiled and tried our best to comfort him. Soon enough the man was over and on his way, but it seemed to me he was complaining so much, he barely said an appreciative thank you.
Continuing down the road, we got another 5 miles down the gentle slope when I asked once more to see the map; it felt as though we were making no progress homeward, but rather heading deeper into the mountains. I took a glance at the directional paper and become conscious of the fact that we had passed the big lake that was on the opposite side of the city. I stood there, looked up at the hill we’d have to travel back up and was quite frustrated. If only my family would have listened to me in the first place, we wouldn’t have gone 14 miles out of the way! Setting my thoughts and feelings aside, we all journeyed back up to the alternative road. While biking up the hill, I began to appreciate what God just did. He took a simple family bike ride, and turned into an opportunity for us to help someone and witness to them by a gentle smile and kind words. My irritated attitude was then transfigured into praise and thanks to my Heavenly Father. Even when I’m struggling in my walk with Him, and it seems everything is going wrong...I will always remember that God can create something good out of every circumstance, as long as I trust and remain true to Him.