I assure you, God wastes nothing. While he may not have personally designed all of your delays and detours, he can certainly work in them. While the hardships you face don’t always come from Heaven’s plans, they have passed through Heaven and have been deemed of value on your journey. Have you ever had plans, and those plans totally unravel? Have you ever been going somewhere and the journey to your somewhere gone completely sideways? How do you handle that? Seriously, what is your attitude when it all just goes to crap? Yesterday was the welcome day for our BIG Life Outer Banks Retreat. Girls from all across the country gathered in the most stunning mansion on the beach, but the travel here for some was totally unraveled. Flights were delayed, connections were missed, and reserved rental cars were unavailable. 6 of our girls ended up stranded, hours away from our retreat house with no rental car and no Uber drivers willing to make the long haul. These previously considered strangers, all from different states, sat for hours on end with all their suitcases … and they had the most memorable day ever. Eventually, the 6 of them, plus 8 suitcases loaded up in the 1 car they could find … a Nissan Versa, and they roadtripped in to retreat, arriving at midnight. It was a nightmare of a travel day for the 6 of them, yet God had radically blessed them with laughter and memories that will forever bond them. Their journey here could have been unimpressive. It could have gone according to plan and been smooth, on time, and totally unremarkable. Instead, it was delayed, detoured, and denied at most every turn … to be undeniably blessed in the end. Could that be your life … Have you been delayed? Have you been detoured? Do you feel denied? My friend, those are the makings of undeniable blessings. When you finally get to where you’re going, you will be able to look back and see that. But it’s hard to see it when you’re in it. Is that where you are? You’re in the delay right now. What you thought was going to happen hasn’t happened and you don’t know when it ever will. How you thought you were going to get there met a massive detour and now you feel like you’re wandering through a never ending wilderness that looks nothing like you wanted it to. Delayed … detoured … or maybe flat out denied. The door has been shut. The answer was no. Unavailable. Not happening. Never going to. Man, life can be tough and the journey can be frustrating. BUT OUR GOD WASTES NOTHING. What if you didn’t have to wait until you finally make it through all of this to see God is using it? What if you could fix your thoughts on the details of God’s sweet providence even in the uncertain mess. While you may be uncertain, God is not. God is absolutely, undeniably CERTAIN of what he is doing, where you are going, and how he is going to work all this out! In your Bible is the story of Joseph. Joseph was good and he did what was good. But how many of us know that doesn’t mean everyone is always going to be good to you? Bad things happen to good people sometimes, but with God, he never allows any of it to be wasted. Joseph was 17 years old and favored by his father. This made all his older brothers hate him. Genesis 37:4, Joseph’s brothers, “couldn’t say a kind word to him.” Well, have you ever felt like that? Like no matter what you did, it wasn’t ever good enough. No matter how nice you were, they just couldn’t be nice to you. And darn, they just can’t seem to say a kind word to you. Ahhhhh, girl,