Perhaps you remember when I went to the Three in One Tour and then got lost on my way home? In that post I talked about how my friend helped me home and didn’t even mind that he had helped me a bazillion times before just as God will redirect us whenever we need it.

Today I want to really expand upon this thought from that post: “I thought about working my way backwards and trying to get back on track but it was late, I was tired, I wasn’t sure I could figure it out and I knew that the quickest way to get back home (and into my bed) was to just call my friend and ask for help.”

I’m very independent and I like being able to do things myself – this is to say that I really, really, REALLY wanted to be able to find my way myself. I was so tempted to just drive all the way back to the concert and start over. It felt like such a waste for me to have found the shortest route online and to have found the concert with no help just to ruin the whole thing and have to pick a different path to return home – a path that wasn’t the shortest or the easiest but was instead just what was closest to me because I was lost. Did I mention that I am a perfectionist?

But I looked at my mom falling asleep in the passenger seat and thought about how I’d have to get up early the next morning for church and I knew it was better to work with what I had than to try to go back and find my original path. As frustrating as it may be, that is sometimes the best path for us in real life, too. 

Isaiah 43:18 – 19 “Do not remember the former things, or consider the things of old. I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.”

Let’s face it: sometimes in life, we mess up. We mess up big and paths and plans that we thought we’d follow are destroyed or at least closed for an indefinite amount of time for some serious construction. But the great news is that God has a new path for us. He can make a way in the wilderness that sprouted from our sin.

If you fight your way back to THE plan that you just know is the right one and you refuse to give it up, you’re most likely going to get more lost and waste more time. Chances are that this new plan is the one God has had in reserve for you all along. 

And yes, it may hurt. You may look back at that shiny highway you once drove on, complete with Bucky’s and Starbucks pit stops, and compare it to the muddy, churned up dirt road zigzagging through the trees that you now face and mourn what is lost. I feel you. It is sad and I know you probably wish you had a time machine, that if you could, you would go back and do things differently. You wouldn’t off-road, but the thing is…you did.

We can’t change what happened. We can only move forward. And here’s the really great thing: God longs to give us the desires of our heart. So often the new road He makes for us is the only one that is actually capable of giving us true happiness or it is a detour that leads back to a mess-free section of the original road.

You’ll never know if you don’t give up your path for His.

Take Action

Identify one area of your life where you need to sacrifice your way for God’s way:

Write out the expectations you had for your old path and any negative feelings about giving that up. Take the time to mourn for what is lost and then surrender it to God:

Pray: God, I want to follow the path You have for me. Please help me to look at my life with Your perspective; lead me where You want me. Give me courage to follow paths that seem difficult. 

Challenge: I know it’s scary to try new things so get some practice!! This week try two new things even if they are very small & not God-related. Just get into the mindset that change is not bad!!

Tagged: annoying stuff, Christianity, Directions, God, Patience