I’ve been writing this particular blog post for almost 3 years.
Like most of the posts here, it started on a journal page, written with one my favorite clickable Frixion erasable pens. Here’s the page from my journal 1,033 days ago (don’t worry, I’ll type it out…😉 )
Here’s what it says:
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How God led his people out of Egypt is so amazing and awe-inspiring. First, he knew his people well enough to know their “prone to wander” hearts and he helped them ward off temptation before it even came:
Exodus 13: 17-18
“When Pharaoh let the people go, God did not lead them on the road through the Philistine country, though that was shorter. For God said, ‘If they face war, they might change their minds and return to Egypt.’ So God led the people around by the desert road toward the Red Sea. The Israelites went up out of Egypt ready for battle”.
God knows the human heart and its tendency to return to former things, especially when facing opposition, and even when the “former” was slavery and oppression! His direction for the Israelites to take “the long way” here was merciful.
Next time I think something is taking longer than I want, I’ll try to remember to see the delay as the workings of God. Maybe the longer road is protection from something on the shortcut. Cloud by day, fire by night, Lord lead me!
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I’m beginning to see that the long road, both in Scripture and in my own life, is often an expression of God’s mercy, not His absence or disregard. In Exodus 13, the long detour described in just a few phrases on the page was actually countless agonizing steps – sandaled, blistered feet – exhausted mothers and fathers carrying children and herding livestock while searching for food, water, and shelter each night. That desert road was merciless — scorching days, frigid nights. Yet God led them that way to preserve life, not destroy it.
I can just hear the peoples’ thoughts, as trickles of sweat mingled with tears trace lines through the dust on their faces, “You delivered us from Pharaoh for this?”
And yet these conditions were part of God’s mercy. In His wisdom, God knew the alternative was immediate war with the Philistines. He led them the longer way, preserving their lives and preparing them to witness His power when He would soon make a way through the waters.
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Around the time of this journal entry, my niece Natalie Layne wrote a song called “The Long Way”. The first time I heard it was as a text in the family group chat with a video of a raw live performance. It was not yet sharable because it hadn’t even been recorded yet. Deeply moved, I saved the lyrics in a note on my phone alongside a picture of this journal entry on the long journey in Exodus. And I wrote: “Finish this blog when the song is out.”
The song’s lyrics are heart-wrenchingly beautiful and they sink down deep into my soul. The piano holds a steady rhythm, as if walking up and down the path of the staff, keeping the pace of a longing heart that won’t let go. Take a listen, and picture the trudging Israelites as you do…
The Long Way
By Natalie Layne
I’m the kind of heart that likes to know right where I’m going
I would take the highway over dirt roads any day
I would rather speed things up than learn to trust the process
Tell me yes or tell me no, just don’t tell me to wait
But You see more than I can see
You’ve got good plans for me
So I’m surrendering
Take me down the long way
If that’s where I’m meant to be
Take me down the back roads God
You know what’s best for me
You’re with me every moment
Even the ones I wouldn’t choose
Take me down the long way
If the long way leads to You
Beautiful, right?
I don’t think it’s coincidence that the song wasn’t recorded and shareable until now. Because now, in 2026, is when I actually can write about “the long road” with any kind of empathy or understanding.
I have been on a hard journey of recovery after a devastating car accident, one marked by many unexpected twists and turns. Being off work brought a heavy financial toll as I waited for my body to heal. In our small family, we have absorbed multiple blows over the past four months: a leaking roof, a totaled car, repeated medical procedures, the cloud cover of depression, parenting challenges – just struggles of every kind. And I found myself praying along with the psalmist, “How long, Lord”?
I know there are paths of pain far longer and deeper than mine. Trials that go on and on for years, decades even. Holding that perspective helped me stay humble, yet it did not make this season any less lonely or real.
I discovered that although life on the sidelines can be an unexpectedly desolate place, it can also be the “back roads” where God’s presence is known and felt in a fresh way.
Just look at the nearest mountain range. (Or if you live in Nebraska or Kansas, maybe Google a picture of one…😉) Are there any trees at the top? Any growth? The fertile places aren’t at the top of the mountain, they are in the valleys. Nothing grows in the higher elevations. The low points are the points of fecundity (<–just learned that word yesterday and had to use it immediately!)
God reminded me of his sovereignty in directing our paths once again this past week, only this time from the New Testament. I’ve been reading in Luke, and this story gave me another reason to whip out the Frixion pen:
On a Sabbath Jesus was teaching in one of the synagogues, and a woman was there who had been crippled by a spirit for eighteen years. She was bent over and could not straighten up at all. When Jesus saw her, he called her forward and said to her, “Woman, you are set free from your infirmity.” Then he put his hands on her, and immediately she straightened up and praised God.
Indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, the synagogue leader said to the people, “There are six days for work. So come and be healed on those days, not on the Sabbath.”
The Lord answered him, “You hypocrites! Doesn’t each of you on the Sabbath untie your ox or donkey from the stall and lead it out to give it water? Then should not this woman, a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has kept bound for eighteen long years, be set free on the Sabbath day from what bound her?”
When he said this, all his opponents were humiliated, but the people were delighted with all the wonderful things he was doing. Luke 13: 10-17
For the cursive-challenged…I’ll transcribe:
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It bolstered my faith to read about the healing of the woman on the Sabbath. Tears in my eyes, I can imagine Jesus saying to me, “Woman, you are free from your infirmity”.
I know the Bible is an account of what happened – historical, not prescriptive – yet I can’t help but allow the hope to rise in my chest when I read this story.
Lord if it is in your will to heal me like this, oh how I would joyfully accept and give you praise. Yet I recognize she was in pain for 18 years, and you may have more purpose for my elongated “suffering” (note the quotes, lol) and I’ll accept that too. ♥️
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The woman in Luke 13 had 18 years of waiting for healing.
Picture it, feel it with her. Agonizing moments that turned into days, then weeks, then months and almost two decades of pain. Can you imagine how many times her faith rose and fell during that time?
God loves me, I’ll get through this.
Wait, no he doesn’t. He must have forgotten me. I don’t matter to anyone.
But God is true and faithful. He sees me.
Ugh, the pain persists. No he doesn’t.
…on and on…for years.
Maybe you see yourself in the woman described in Luke 13 or the sojourning crowd in the pages of Exodus 13. Maybe you look down and see blistered feet on The Long Road. Your circumstances are different than theirs, but the agony you carry is the same. Hands aching to hold a child, a heart that longs to love and be loved, a body weary from the curse of disease, a soul that can’t hold the grief of loss any longer, a heart carrying the pain of rejection or the death of a dream. I’m not going to tell you it will all be better tomorrow. Or that your miracle is coming soon. I don’t know if it is or it isn’t.
But I know the One who placed you on The Long Road is the same one who made every cell of your body and who knows the beginning and the end of the story and all the subplots within it. And I know he is walking right next to you.
Isaiah 41:10
“So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.”
Psalm 23:4
“Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me.”
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As I was writing this blog, I got a call from my neurosurgeon. He told me that the scan I had yesterday showed enough improvement to remove the cumbersome CTO brace I have been wearing for months, and move into the physical therapy stage. He gave me a not-to-distant return to work date. These are things I’ve been praying for, and they happened AS I’m writing this blog. I took off my brace and finished my writing session without it. Only our God!
I’m singing along with Natalie:
I have seen Your faithfulness in every mile so far
All that I have needed You’ve provided from the start
Your voice is always gentle and Your love is evergreen
Leading me to a kindness that I never would have seen
You see more than I can see
You’ve got good plans for me
They’re better than I dreamed
So I’m Yours and I believe
So take me down the long way
If that’s where I’m meant to be
Take me down the back roads God
You know what’s best for me
You’re with me every moment
Even the ones I wouldn’t choose
Take me down the long way
If the long way leads to You
I truly pray you’ll get the miracle you ask for. But more than that, I pray you know the mercy of the One who has you on this particularly sorrowful part of the journey. May God provide nourishment for your soul – truth from his word, love from his people, and the fellowship of his Spirit – that keep you taking the next step. And I pray that someday you’ll see why you walked this path, even if that someday is beyond your breaths on earth.
Carry on, weary traveler. You are seen, known, and loved as you tread The Long Road. The waiting is not evidence that God has withdrawn; rather, He is present and merciful in the silence between every step.
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