Inspired Dead Ends

I have been thinking a lot about dead ends.  They are discouraging, especially if you sincerely felt that the path you were on was endorsed and even inspired by our Heavenly Father.  After so many dead ends, I have tried to make sense of why.  Why would I be led down a path only to find embarrassment, pain, and frustration?  I was 100% certain that this was the Lord’s will.  I had felt confirmations time and time again.  It just didn’t make any sense.  A couple days ago, I discovered this video, which actually addresses this very question.  It was exactly what I needed, and I wanted to share it.

 

 

I think it takes a lot of maturity to recognize that the Lord might be leading us towards a dead end for a much higher purpose.  In the Old Testament, the Lord led Moses and the children of Israel straight into a deathly trap between the edge of the Red Sea and Pharaoh’s army.  I have no doubt that the children of Israel questioned the wisdom of God at that moment. Why would He deliver them from Egypt only to lead them to their death? This desperate situation allowed Moses to exercise his own faith along with the faith of the children of Israel, which resulted in one of the most miraculous events in history with the parting of the Red Sea.  The Lord needed to communicate that nothing was impossible, that Moses was, in fact, a capable prophet and leader, and that the children of Israel would not be forgotten by the Lord even after their deliverance from Egypt.  Had they not been driven to the water’s edge, the opportunity to exercise that caliber of faith and power would not have been a possibility. 

 

Similarly in the Book of Mormon, Lehi and his family had the help of the liahona to guide them to the promised land, but the path they took was far from direct.  Traveling from Jerusalem to the sea should not take eight years.  There were undoubtedly times when they were living righteously and seeking the direction of the Lord and were still led in crooked paths.  It is on these paths where we learn how to be Christ-like.  We learn patience and trust. In the process, we become prepared to receive the promised blessings, whereas we may not have been capable of receiving them at the beginning of our journey. 

 

To be honest, there are times when I feel like I can’t move forward.  I am retracing my steps back down the wrong road towards the fork, but I don’t have the energy to try the right path just yet.  The wrong road exhausted me so much that I just want to take a minute to sit down at the fork and cry.  I wasted so much time and energy.  How could that have been right?  This is where we have a choice: we can question the wisdom of God, we can question our own ability to understand and follow personal revelation, or we can humbly trust that Heavenly Father knows what He is doing and so do we.  Trust the Spirit. Trust the promptings.  Trust in God. Trust that He knows more than we do.  Yes, it may take a second to regain your composure, but the second you do, get back up and confidently walk down the right path, or another dead end, as the case may be.  Each dead end only illuminates the right path even more brilliantly.  Considering the many dead ends I have experienced in various areas of life, at least I can be confident that my path forward will be so overwhelmingly bright that there is not a chance I will miss it!  For that I am grateful!