Walking with God on the Road You Never Wanted to Travel

By Mark Atteberry

The Christian life isn't always a walk in the park. Children of Christian parents do die. Christian businessmen do lose their jobs. And husbands of Christian wives do cheat. Being a Christian doesn't protect you from the tough punches life throws.

Taking fourteen strategies from the biblical account of the Israelite journey, Walking with God on the Road You Never Wanted to Travel offers real hope to those on an unexpected, difficult journey. For forty years the Israelites wandered through a devastating wilderness, suffering many losses, and yet learning some timeless lessons. These lessons, presented here as strategies for modern believers, are simply stated, clearly explained, and beautifully illustrated with dramatic and inspiring stories.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Thomas Nelson
• Release date: Aug 14, 2005
• ISBN: 9781418514006

Mark Atteberry

Mark Atteberry is the award-winning author of eleven books.  He has been the preaching minister of Poinciana Christian Church in Kissimmee, Florida since 1989.  A popular speaker, he has preached and led workshops at countless churches, conferences, colleges, and retreats.  He is married to Marilyn, his high school sweetheart.

Book preview

Praise for

Walking with God on the Road

You Never Wanted to Travel

"Hurting people need more than a pat on the back and a few stale clichés, and they get it in Walking with God on the Road You Never Wanted to Travel. With all the warmth, insight, and splashes of humor we’ve come to expect, Mark Atteberry offers biblical, workable strategies for negotiating the hard roads of life. This is one of those rare books that rings so true, it makes you wonder why someone didn’t write it a long time ago."

—Barbara Johnson

Best-selling author of Laughter

from Heaven and Stick a

Geranium in Your Hat and Be

Happy

"If the circumstances of your life have grown so difficult that you honestly don’t know what to do, take heart.Walking with God on the Road You Never Wanted to Travel was written just for you."

—Angela Thomas

Best-selling Author of Do You

Think I’m Beautiful? and A

Beautiful Offering

Mark has brought us a chronicle of pain, discovery, and ultimate peace. I found myself on the pages of his inspired perspective.

—Janet Paschal

Grammy and Dove Award

Nominated Singer/Songwriter

Other Books by Mark Atteberry

The Caleb Quest

The Samson Syndrome

The Climb of Your Life

Title Page with Thomas Nelson logo

© 2005 by Mark Atteberry

All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, scanning, or other— except for brief quotations in critical reviews or articles, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

Published in Nashville, Tennessee, by Thomas Nelson. Thomas Nelson is a registered trademark of Thomas Nelson, Inc.

Author is represented by the literary agency of Alive Communications, Inc., 7680 Goddard Street, Suite 200, Colorado Springs, CO 80920.

Thomas Nelson, Inc., titles may be purchased in bulk for educational, business, fund-raising, or sales promotional use. For information, please e-mail [e-mail].

Unless otherwise noted, Scripture quotations are from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.,Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations noted NIV are from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations noted KJV are from the KING JAMES VERSION of the Holy Bible.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Atteberry, Mark.

Walking with God on the road you never wanted to travel / by Mark Atteberry.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references.

ISBN 978-0-7852-1132-7 (pbk.)

1. Consolation. 2. Exodus, The. 3.Wilderness (Theology) I. Title.

BV4905.3.A86 2005

248.8'6—dc22

2005008733

08 09 10 11 12 QW 9 8 7 6 5

Information about External Hyperlinks in this ebook

Please note that footnotes in this ebook may contain hyperlinks to external websites as part of bibliographic citations. These hyperlinks have not been activated by the publisher, who cannot verify the accuracy of these links beyond the date of publication.

For Mary Berlin

On the day I finished this manuscript, Mary had her left leg amputated. It was her twelfth major surgery in the last eight years. As her pastor, I’ve spent countless hours visiting her in various hospitals, nursing homes, and rehab centers and have never heard her utter a word of complaint. Her unshakable faith was a constant source of inspiration to me during the year I spent writing this book. Because of her, no one will ever be able to say the strategies presented here are too difficult to accomplish. Mary mastered them all.

EBOOK INSTRUCTIONS

In this ebook edition, please use your device’s note-taking function to record your thoughts wherever you see the bracketed instructions [Your Notes] or [Your Response Here]. Use your device’s highlighting function to record your response whenever you are asked to checkmark, circle, underline, or otherwise indicate your answer(s).

CONTENTS

Ebook Instructions

Introduction

Author’s Note

Strategy #1

Understand How You Wound Up in the Wilderness

Strategy #2

Commit to Strict Obedience

Strategy #3

Travel with a Friend

Strategy #4

Stay Positive

Strategy #5

Step over the Dead and Keep Going

Strategy #6

Trust God to Meet Your Needs

Strategy #7

Go at God’s Pace

Strategy #8

Enjoy Every Oasis

Strategy #9

Expect Detours

Strategy #10

Worship on the Way

Strategy #11

Keep Your Dreams Alive

Strategy #12

When You Come to the Jordan, Cross It

Strategy #13

Turn Your Trip into a Testimony

A Letter from Mark

Study Guide

About the Author

Acknowledgments

Notes

INTRODUCTION

Anna Hartman walked into our church every Sunday with her husband and two small boys, passing out kisses and hugs like Christmas candy. It didn’t matter if she knew you or not. If you were in her path, you got one or the other. Or both. And there was nothing fake about it. Anna was the genuine article: a committed, joy-filled, low-maintenance Christian.

One day her doctor told her she needed a tonsillectomy. He assured her it was nothing to worry about—just a couple of little snips. She’d be in the hospital overnight and then go home and eat ice cream for a day or two. Her plan was to lay in a supply of Ben & Jerry’s and enjoy the time off work.

But on the morning after the surgery, Anna was running a slight fever. The doctor seemed puzzled, but not alarmed. It happens sometimes, he said. Just plan to stay one more night, and we’ll try to have you out of here by noon tomorrow.Anna was disappointed but figured one more night in the hospital wouldn’t be the end of the world.

She was wrong.

Late that night, as she lay alone in her room, an artery ruptured in her throat and produced an outpouring of blood so excessive that it choked and drowned her in a matter of minutes. The remote-control device that she could have used to call for help was found dangling from her bed. No doubt she’d been groping frantically for it during her last seconds of life.

When the nurse found her, Anna had been dead for some time. Her gown and bed linens were soaked in blood. Pools were congealing on the floor. Streaks and splatters were head-high on the walls and privacy curtain. The room looked like a scene from a bad horror film.

The doctor who performed the surgery was called and arrived in no time. I was sitting in the waiting room with Anna’s husband, Ron, when he came in to express his sympathy. It was an act of God, he explained. One of those freaky things that no one could have predicted.

But it wasn’t that simple.

An autopsy revealed that an artery had been nicked during the tonsillectomy. The pathologist called it a ticking bomb just waiting to explode. And explode it did.

I sat with Ron while Anna’s body was removed, and then we walked out to our cars. I’ll never forget the conversation we had there in the light of a street lamp at about 1:00 a.m.

Mark, why did God let this happen?

I don’t know, Ron.

We prayed for her.

I know.

All of us. Me, you, and the boys. We stood in a circle and held hands and asked God to protect her.

I know.

So why didn’t He?

I honestly don’t know, Ron. I wish I did.

It all seems like some kind of cruel joke. I mean, she was only twenty-eight!

I know.

Ron fell silent for a moment and stared off into space. I knew that images of his beloved Anna had to be flashing through his mind.

Their first date.

Their wedding day.

The births of their children.

The last time they made love.

Even in the dim light, I could see that Ron’s cheeks were wet with tears. He stared off into the starry night and then turned to me and said in a trembling voice, This is my worst nightmare. I have no idea how I’m going to get through this.

I could have put my hand on his shoulder and said, Just trust the Lord, Ron. He’ll take care of you.But I knew he would counter with the observation that the Lord hadn’t done a very good job of taking care of Anna. And quite honestly, that was an issue I didn’t feel up to addressing.

So I said nothing.

That night, through no fault of his own, Ron Hartman suddenly found himself on a very hard road, one that he never wanted to travel. Sadly, the road proved a little too steep and treacherous. In an apparent attempt to find some relief from the loneliness and painful memories, he remarried quickly and moved far away. That was several years ago. The last I heard, he was struggling mightily.

I wish I could say that Ron’s case is rare and isolated, but it isn’t. Every day, people from all walks of life suddenly find themselves on roads they never wanted to travel:

It’s malignant.

I’ve found someone else.

I don’t love you anymore.

Your son has been arrested.

Mom, I think I’m pregnant.

You may never walk again.

Your wife didn’t survive the surgery.

There’s been a shooting at your son’s school.

These are just a few of the statements that can jerk you off the smooth, flat pavement of your well-ordered life and send you careening down a blind alley or, worse yet, to the crumbling edge of a dangerous mountain cliff. The noxious mixture of shock, anger, and grief, along with the unanswerable questions these statements produce, can set your head spinning. Like my friend Ron, you can suddenly find yourself spiritually disoriented and making harmful choices that will haunt you forever. Or, like countless other people, you can simply give up hope and join the ranks of the living dead.

As a pastor, I know all too well that the hard roads of life are littered with the souls of good people who found them too hard to negotiate. Even now, as I’m writing these words, faces are flashing through my mind. The faces of people I’ve loved and laughed with and worshipped with. Good people who touched my life in special ways but never will again because they died or got lost on roads they would never have chosen in a million years.

Are you on a hard road right now? Have you recently had your world rocked by one of the bombshell statements listed above? Are you reeling from the shock? Boiling with anger? So heartbroken and confused that you don’t know what to do? If so, I’m glad God saw fit to bring you and this book together. What you have in your hands is a road map of sorts, a traveler’s guide for the hard roads of life.

I found this road map tucked away in my Bible. No, it wasn’t a dog-eared piece of paper with directional signs and navigational symbols. It was a Bible story. The story of a group of people who once traveled the hardest road of all. Yes, I’m referring to the story of the Israelites, God’s people, and their forty-year trek through the wilderness. It was an arduous journey through a dark and dangerous land. There were setbacks, detours, and losses along the way. Heavy losses, as we will see. But the story has a happy ending. With God’s help, they found their way safely back to the land flowing with milk and honey.

What I’ve discovered is that their story contains timeless lessons that apply with uncanny relevance to the hard-road journeys that modern believers are called upon to make. I’ve turned these into thirteen strategies. They’re so simple that even a child can understand them, yet they’re so powerful that any one of them could save your life. Taken as a group, they are a map you can follow. They are a light for your path. They are a reason for hope.

Earlier, I mentioned my silence in response to Ron Hartman’s agony on that terrible night when his wife died so unexpectedly. At the time, I felt that my inability to say something profound was an indictment of sorts. I remember feeling ashamed as I drove home in the wee hours of the morning. I now realize that I was making a simple but common mistake. I was looking for a way to explain why such terrible things were happening to him, when I should have simply offered a few ideas on how he could face the future. You see, the whys of life are often out of our reach. I’m convinced that only eternity will unlock all of their mysteries. But the hows are a different story. The Bible is chock-full of hows.

For the most part, this is a book of hows, not whys. I’ll leave the philosophers to argue the whys of life. My goal is simply to share the wonderful news I’ve discovered—that even the hardest roads lead home.

Come. Let me show you.

AUTHOR’S NOTE

The epic story of the Israelites’ forty-year trek through the wilderness is one of the richest and most challenging in the Bible. It’s told in the books of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, and Joshua, yet many intriguing references to it pop up throughout Scripture. As you read, it will help you to remember that I have made no attempt to address everything that happened during those forty years. Nor have I necessarily arranged the events in chronological order. In other words, this book more resembles a slide presentation than a movie. I’ve assembled thirteen photographs, taken along that hardest of roads, that I believe will speak in a powerful way to hard-road travelers today.

Also, I tell many stories about real people in this book, but in order to protect their privacy, I have changed some names and altered a few minor details.

Because you complained against me, none of you who are twenty years old or older and were counted in the census will enter the land I swore to give you. The only exceptions will be Caleb son of Jephunneh and Joshua son of Nun.

You said your children would be taken captive. Well, I will bring them safely into the land, and they will enjoy what you have despised. But as for you, your dead bodies will fall in this wilderness. And your children will be like shepherds, wandering in the wilderness forty years. In this way, they will pay for your faithlessness, until the last of you lies dead in the wilderness.

—N

UMBERS

14:29–33

STRATEGY # 1

Understand How You

Wound Up in the Wilderness

You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.

—JESUS, IN JOHN 8:32

The fact that you have picked up this book and begun to read tells me that you’re probably on a hard road you never wanted to travel.

Maybe you’re sitting in a house made silent by the departure of your spouse.

Maybe you’re lying in a hospital bed with an eight-inch scar in your chest.

Maybe you’ve just been threatened by an angry creditor.

Or maybe your boss recently handed you a pink slip.

Right off the bat, I’m going to ask you to do something that might be a little painful. Okay, it might be extremely painful. But it’s a critical exercise—one that lays the foundation for all the strategies to come. It’s a step you simply cannot skip if you want to get through your wilderness in good mental and spiritual health.

I want you to take your eyes off the road ahead, do an about-face, and look at your back trail. I know you’re worried about the future. You’re wondering where this awful road is going to take you and what monsters might be hiding along the way. That’s understandable, and we’ll get to that. But for the next few minutes, I want you to forget where you’re going and think about where you’ve been. In this first chapter, the goal is to answer one question: How did you get where you are?

In Psalm 77:5–6, Asaph said, I think of the good old days, long since ended, when my nights were filled with joyful songs. I search my soul and think about the difference now. Some people would say that such reflection is pointless. After all, what’s done is done; you can’t change the past. Yet, Solomon said, Wisdom is enshrined in an understanding heart (Prov. 14:33).He also said,People who cherish understanding will prosper (Prov. 19:8). Our goal in this chapter is simply to gain understanding. Resolving the issue of how you wound up in the wilderness could help you in three ways.

First, it could point you toward the way of escape. Many times the road into the wilderness is also the road out. For example, if a destructive behavior pattern has broken one of your relationships, correcting that behavior will likely