Directed the "wrong way"

On Monday, Stephen finally received his orders, and we found out that we are going to Laughlin AFB in Del Rio, Texas.  He had applied to graduate school a few months back but we were unsure if he had been accepted.  When Stephen was going through the AFIT application process, we had been praying to know if going to grad school right out of the Academy was the right thing to do for our future family.  We both felt very strongly about the decision to continue with the application.  We knew that it was what Heavenly Father wanted.  We were both a bit disappointed when we found out that AFPC did not grant him a grad school slot.  We were also very confused as to why he had been denied since we both felt that we had received an answer from the Lord to do it.

At institute later that night, our teacher shared a story about Elder Holland.  Elder Holland and his son were on a camping trip and had gotten lost while on a hike.  Once they had found a trail, they started heading in the direction of their camp.  They came to a fork in the road.  They did not know which way to go.  Elder Holland wanted to use this moment to teach his son a lesson about the power of prayer.  They prayed to know which direction they needed to go and both felt they needed to take the trail to the right.  They walked along it for a few minutes before it dead-ended and they had to turn back and go down the other trail.  His son asked, “Dad, why did we get sent down the wrong road to just have to turn around again and go the other way? Why weren’t we just directed down the right road?” Elder Holland thought and pondered on his son’s questions and responded just as they reached camp, “Son, we had to go to the right and come to the dead-end to know for certain that the trail to the left was the right one to be on.  If we had started going down the left, we would have been constantly wondering if we were on the correct trail and may have even turned back to try the trail to the right.  Sometimes we are directed to do things that lead to dead-ends so we know for certain the path that we should take.”

Stephen and I realized that this story applies directly to us in our situation.  If Stephen had not applied for grad school, we would have been constantly wondering if we had made the right choice to start pilot training first.  We now know that this is the right path for us to take during these next few years of our lives and gives us the opportunity to pursue other dreams and opportunities that we feel are important.  This has been a wonderful blessing in disguise. 

Can’t wait to move to Texas!