If you have ever driven the Road to Hana on the northeast coastline of Maui, Hawaii, then you can relate to what our journey was like. The Road to Hana has 617 hairpin turns and 59 one-lane bridges. Carefully navigating this narrow winding road for 64 miles creates constant tension for the driver. The blind right turns hug the mountainside, sometimes encountering an oncoming vehicle. It is hard to enjoy the tropical scenery while being transfixed on survival.
The Road to Hana illustrates my journey with Jasmine. I spoke with her ICU nurses twice a day, and each time I felt the grip of underlying tension, like driving around a blind turn. Sometimes the narrow road was clear and other times I encountered the unexpected—disappointment, a setback, uncertainty.
People were praying for Jasmine’s healing, and every day I received a message about another group praying for her; every day, someone posted a message on Facebook about Jasmine’s situation, and prayer circles expanded even further. While we fervently prayed for Jasmine’s physical healing, God was taking me on another journey excavating the depths of my spiritual life. What was God doing in me? Was there something within me that He wanted to dislodge? Was there something that I needed to surrender, confess, repent of, or commit to? What had my relationship with Jasmine been in the past and how would it be different in the future?
Stop and Consider: It should not take a crisis to be aware of God’s work in your life. What is God doing in you now, even in the absence of a crisis?
(Part 4: Struggling with a Sovereign God)