How's Your Spiritual GPS?

by Lisa Jordan, @lisajordan

I turned on the Maps feature on my phone and looked at the navigation screen on my Ford Escape. The robotic voice commanded me to go southwest then turn right. Okay, so which way was southwest? Why couldn't it just tell me to turn left or right? 

Anyway, my mom thought we needed to turn right, so we did.

Then my GPS rerouted us around the block—or so I thought—to get back onto the road we needed to head out of the busy city.

However, instead of connecting us back to the familiar route, the GPS guided us a different way. And honestly, that way had less traffic, less congestion, and less roadwork.

The residential area offered landscaped homes, well-kept schools, and parks where children were playing with their parents and dogs.

Even though I’d been to the city hundreds of times, I was seeing this area for the first time. After an exhausting day, the views were soothing, and I was able to relax.

Finally, the GPS directed me back onto the main road I needed to take me home.

At first, there was a little concern about getting lost, especially in an unfamiliar part of the city, but I had faith in my Maps app to pilot me where I needed to go.

If I had taken that left and gone home the way I’d come, then I would have missed out on touring through that calming neighborhood.

I think that’s how we can be with God. The Bible tells us we can plan our course, but the Lord orders our steps. Faith is believing without seeing.

How many times, though, do we struggle with moving forward in faith without knowing where God is leading us?

We can make goals, create plans, and write out to-do lists and then be so focused on achieving them that we are taken down alternate routes of annoyances and miss out on blessings God is sharing with us—interrupted writing time to chat with a friend, helping a family member, or being of service in an unexpected way. 

We can view those interruptions as annoyances, but when God is in control of our time, our plans,  and our steps, then it's ordained for the purpose He has for us.

Life offers plenty of potholed roads, dead ends, and roadblocks that can cause us to be detoured along the way. And it’s so easy to get caught in a spirit of fear that keeps us from even moving forward. But, no matter what we’re doing, God wants to stay connected with us. He gives us the courage to keep going. Even when he reroutes us, and those paths may be through seasons instead of minutes, but He's with us every step of the way. 

I know how difficult it is to follow God even if the path seems hazy or even too dark to see where the next step may be. And sure, we may make mistakes from time to time that leads us down the wrong road, but when we get back in alignment with God’s will for our lives, then He will reconnect us with the best route to take for the path He’s mapped out for us. So take heart—no matter what we're doing or where we're going, God wants to be with us. And even better—He knows the best way, so following him will take us to the greatest destination of all—the center of His Perfect Will.

Season of Hope
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Heart, home, and faith have always been important to Lisa Jordan, so writing stories with those elements come naturally. Represented by Rachelle Gardner of Books & Such Literary Management, Lisa is an award-winning author for Love Inspired, writing contemporary Christian romances that promise hope and happily ever after. Her latest book, Season of Hope, releases in March 2019. She is the Operations Manager for My Book Therapy. Happily married to her own real-life hero for almost thirty years, Lisa and her husband have two grown sons. When she isn't writing, Lisa enjoys family time, kayaking, good books, and creating with words, stamps, fibers, and photos. Visit her at lisajordanbooks.com.