How God Smoothes Our Rough Roads

I lived down a long gravel driveway when I was growing up. Sometimes the driveway would be smooth with fresh laid gravel and other times it would have potholes along the way. Every year my dad would have to buy new gravel to spread in the potholes from the wear the driveway got with our cars going up and down several times a day. I think what the ride would be like if my dad never filled in those potholes. The wear and tear on our cars would be visible and my bike rides down the driveway would get very interesting as I dodged each pothole.

As I read the list of things God does for His people in Isaiah 42:16, the truth that He will make our rough places smooth stuck out to me. There have been circumstances in my life that were rough. The journey through my husband’s cancer diagnosis was not the easiest path I have ever been on. Some days were rough and other days were extremely rough. Cancer is never a smooth road and there are many other circumstances that are never smooth. There are rough roads of wayward family members, financial distress, addictions, dying loved ones, and many more. As I began to think about all these rough roads we go down as humans, I looked at ways God makes them smooth for us.

I can’t say how God is making your road smoother, but I can tell you how God made our family’s road smoother.

My husband, the breadwinner of our family, was sick and was not able to work as much he did before his diagnosis. God lifted this financial burden from us in the form of disability insurance that He prompted Doug, my husband, to sign-up for before being diagnosed. We didn’t win the lottery and have our finances covered forever, but He did provide the money we needed to pay our bills while Doug was sick.

I worried about how I would take care of our children and go to every doctor appointment with Doug. I didn’t know how I could be at two places at once. God provided our family with friends and family we trusted to watch our children for each of Doug’s appointments. That was a huge burden lifted off of me.

When we had to move to Houston, TX for Doug’s stem cell transplant, God provided a house that would fit our family of four plus Doug’s parents. It was in our budget, the perfect size, and within the distance we needed to be from the hospital. This was no easy task since we were taking children. It was easy to rent a medical apartment, but we did not find one that allowed children.

Some may say these things are coincidences, I say they are God smoothing our rough road. God didn’t take our rough gravel away and pave the road ahead of us, but He did bring in fresh gravel to fill in our potholes.

I challenge you this week to look at your hopeless circumstances and find hope within them. How is God smoothing the path in front of you? There were so many ways God smoothed our road; it would take you most of the day to read them all if I wrote about all of them.

In Isaiah 42:16, God tells us He will lead us by ways that are unknown to us, He will guide us down these unfamiliar paths, He will make the darkness of these unfamiliar paths to light up so that we can see clearly through them, and He will smooth out our rough places.

No matter what you are going through, you are not alone. God is going before you in the form of your guide, your light, and by laying fresh gravel to fill in your potholes. Open your eyes to see the goodness God is doing as you walk down your bumpy road. When you recognize His goodness, give Him the praise He deserves.

Digging Deeper:

Read Isaiah 42:10-16

Name your hopeless circumstance. After you have named it out loud to God, give it to Him.

How have you seen God work in past circumstances of your life?

Name one good thing God has done in your current circumstance this week.