What is your favorite book? Movie? Color? Band? Fast-food restaurant? Way to cook your eggs? Yes, I just asked you how you like your eggs.

So, how do you like your eggs?

When you set out to plan your day – or even your week – what is it that you want to do most? Even deeper than that – what is your dream?

I didn’t ask you what your dream is for your kids, spouse, church or work – I want to know what your dream is, and if you still even know what it is? What were you put here on earth to do?

Now, if you are struggling with coming up with answers for any of the above, know that you are not alone. Especially if you are a busy mom, knee deep in daily duties and driving demands, you are not alone.

And yes, I understand I was never a mom – but I was a very involved dad in the lives of our four kids. Every morning it was my responsibility to get them ready for school, bundle them into the car and drive them where they needed to go. And every evening after work, I focused on dedicated family time – devotions around the table, play time with them on the floor wrestling or beating them at board games (okay, sometimes I let them win!).

And for years, I had homework duty too. Yes, I understand how it feels to sit for hours after a long day at work – glued to the dinner table with a restless child night after night, year after year trying everything you can to help the one who struggles with attention-deficit-disorder grasp the importance of perseverance and learning. I understand the things that keep parents up at night, unable to sleep – concerned whether or not their children will be equipped to fulfill their dreams. These concerns and passions of parenting, marriage and relationships at church or work can be all-consuming for so long that eventually you wake up one day and realize you’ve forgotten about your dreams, passions and your destiny to fulfill. Just making it through the day is enough.

I get it. I know how it is to attend PTA meetings, school events, sporting events and church events so much that you don’t have enough energy left over to think about yourself anymore.

Dream?

Only when sleeping.

Purpose? Passion? Eaten up by the daily demands of living a life well, and living a life for others. Which is good. It’s just that it is easy to forget what used to inspire you, drive you or even bring you hope.

It’s easy to forget the you in you.

So that’s why I want to remind you, my friend, that God has a destiny for you. He has a purpose and a plan for you. He has something for you that maximizes your skills, personality, experiences, passions and compassions in a way like no one else ever could.

Sure, it may not happen tomorrow. Nor will you get there by going in a straight line. This is because God sets twists and turns in all our lives that provide opportunities for us to grow, mature, be humbled, learn, develop, surrender, gain confidence and more. I call these twists and turns “detours.”

You know what a detour is. Detours are unanticipated routes that take us another way to our intended destination. It’s either a sign you come up on, a person who steers you elsewhere, or a police car with lights flashing sitting there to let you know the road you are traveling is no longer available. Inevitably, they are also a roadbump to our emotions. Because of the detour, you and I must go off the beaten path, take longer than we had wished to, and be inconvenienced more than we had hoped.

Few of us like to be stalled, for any reason. Even if it’s just someone cutting us off in traffic and forcing us to slow down. But detours are necessary if any improvement is going to be made on the paths we travel. Or if any wreck is going to be cleaned up or hazard avoided. Detours are designed for our own good on the roads of life regardless of how we view them.

Detours are a good thing that often feel bad.

This is because it is in your detour that you become developed for your destiny.

You learn patience, compassion, kindness, gratitude and all those wonderful things that empower you to fully live out your dream. You may feel that your life right now is on one ongoing detour … serving the needs of others, setting your own hopes aside. But, just like for Joseph whom God positioned from the pit to the palace, God has a plan for every moment in your life as well. Yes, even the most mundane and monotonous ones.

God is taking you straight to your destiny … in His ever-Godlike-zig-zagging-sort-of-way. So keep your eyes open as you learn to look for His hand in the midst of happenstance so that your hope remains steadfast and your heart remains full.

Article written by Tony Evans.