My family spent a week pulling a trailer to various places between Mesa, Arizona and Salt Lake City, Utah for spring break when the kids were younger.
Oh, I could write volumes on the shenanigans we experienced, but for the sake of this post, I’ll try to keep it to one point.
We had just spent an entire day trying to get from Mesa, AZ to Goblin Valley, Utah, not really comprehending how unrealistic such a jaunt in one day really was. After missing our turnoff in Flagstaff (add 3 hours to the trip because of the unscheduled stop at the meteor crater on the way to Albuquerque), our hope was to reach Goblin Valley, Utah before the RV park closed at 10 pm.
On the map, there’s a nice little road from Mexican Hat, straight up to Hanksville, which is only a little ways away from Goblin Valley. By the time we reached Mexican Hat, it was clearly impossible to hope for a 10 pm arrival; we’d be lucky to get there before midnight. I just prayed that the gate would remain open for us by some fluke, so we pressed on. We had already paid for the first night, and I wanted to benefit from it.
(Do all you CAN do, and expect things to work out for you in the end, right?)
When we reached the turnoff outside of Mexican Hat, there was a large, obnoxious sign that said we’d be stupid to drive that road with an RV. It was small with switchbacks and although I was anxious to get to Hanksville, we decided it would be smartest to go an extra 40 miles out of our way through Bluff and Blanding instead.
Here’s a street-view Google image showing the sign, which we saw in the dark:
By 1:00 in the morning, we finally rolled into Hanksville, exhausted and grateful that we were there in one piece. It had been a lonely, dark, unpredictable and nerve-wracking road with our long and heavy trailer.
We slept at a gas station in Hanksville, and in the morning, headed down highway 24 towards Goblin Valley. Happy to be close to our destination and well rested, we excitedly told the kids we were almost there.
(To this point, the destination was still a secret.)
About 20 miles out of town, my son saw something sparkly spread across the hills on our left. I looked, and was amazed at its beauty – it looked like it was covered in hundreds of yards of gold. I knew it couldn’t possibly be, so I just assumed it had to be pyrite (fools gold).
Unexpectedly, the glitter ended with the next hill. “Shoot!” We thought, “we should have stopped to see what it was and take some home with us!” But our trailer was too large, and we were too long to turn around on the narrow 2-lane road, so we just pressed on.
Around the next corner, my husband thought he saw some more on the right side of the road and quickly pulled off to take the opportunity.
But it only took a moment to realize that the solid-looking shoulder was deep and soft from rain the day before. He gunned it to get back on the road, but it was too late. We were stuck. Stuck on a road that sees a traveler only once in a very long while.
Long story short, a group of college kids eventually saw us, turned around, and stopped to help in vain (to my oldest son’s amusement, one happened to be from the same high school as he attended, 550 miles away). Then a man in a truck stopped, and went into town to get a chain.
With everyone pushing, and the man with the truck pulling, we finally pulled out. My husband ran ahead to thank the man in the truck, who asked us where we were going. My husband responded, “Goblin Valley!” To which the man replied, “You’re going in the wrong direction! You need to take the 24 East, not West.”
Amazing. We were already 30 miles off course and would not have known it for a very long time had we not gotten stuck in the mud.
The college students asked, “Why did you pull off the road?”
We chuckled, “Because we saw something sparkly.”
They laughed at us.
Hard.
You know, sometimes life is like this.
You’re traveling along in the wrong direction and don’t even know it. So God allows you to be enticed by a dream that gets your attention – maybe it’s financial freedom, maybe it’s a nice house or a car. So you divert your attention toward the goal and somewhere along the way, you end up getting stuck.
In an effort to get unstuck, you reach out for help, and ultimately learn something that puts you on course toward your ultimate goal, after having been off course without even knowing it.
People looking for more money or a better lifestyle often end up discovering the principles of prosperity and laws of success which apply to all areas of their life, all because they got stuck financially and searched for a way out.
The good news is, being stuck is one of the best things that can happen to you, because it often stops you from continuing in the wrong direction, and opens up an opportunity for you to not only get unstuck, but to get back on course when you didn’t even know you were going the wrong way.
I’m convinced that’s what the “glitter” of life is really for.
“Materialism”, being too consumed with material things, isn’t all bad, because if it gets your attention, and if your heart is in the right place, it can lead you to answers you don’t even know you need.
For more help on getting unstuck, prospering your family, and turning your life around, visit ProsperTheFamily.com.
PS. I’ve since determined that the mountain was probably covered with of Mica or Gypsum.
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2 Responses
I am so blessed to have read this story. I recently took a different job thinking it was going to be all they promised me. It was not. For a month after taking the job I realized I was stuck and it was not working out. I prayed, I cried, I stressed, I was depressed, I was miserable trying to get out of this situation. My husband was looking from the outside in and he knew there was a reason. I leaned on his faith and I was blessed with a better employment opportunity. Had I not been stuck, I would not have reached out for help for better employment. I was hired for my new job yesterday and reading this article today helped me understand that Heavenly Father had something better in mind for me and my last miserable month I experienced was worth the trial to help me see the blessings instore for me.
Thanks you Leslie for this valuable lesson.
Awesome story! I absolutely agree. In my life some of my biggest disappointments (getting stuck) has been in hindsight, some of the greatest blessings in my life. The key to it all is keep an open mind so you can see the silver lining. Keep moving forward. thanks Leslie, you provide much value and look forward to you future posts.