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
His dreams can all come true...but only if his ex-wife will agree!
Jake Holland’s peaceful dairy farm is a sanctuary—one he wants to share with other worn and weary veterans. He just needs one more piece of land to start his program...and it belongs to Tori Lerner, his ex-wife. A collaboration could benefit them both, but with a past full of secrets between them, is there any hope for renewed love?

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.

Navigating the Way

Good day, Crafties! Christine Johnson here today to chat about the joys of getting lost. Recently I took a road trip to Detour Village in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, at the mouth of the St. Mary’s River.  That required a drive of several hours. Now, I’m old-school when it comes to navigation. No GPS for me. Maps? Love them, but I don’t want a computer telling me where to go. I especially love directions from people who’ve been there before. You know, the kind that say to turn left when you reach the giant plastic rooster.  For this trip, the “in the know” instructions said to turn a little past the park with the big buoys (yep, on land, not in the water). Simple, right? How many parks have huge buoys in them? I felt pretty confident that I could find the place.

Ah, over-confidence!  I saw the park but went zooming past my turn and had to backtrack. But that little detour (no pun, honestly) showed me things I might not have noticed had I turned exactly where a GPS voice told me to. I might have missed the old wrecked sidewheel steamer near shore. Hm, maybe that captain could have used better charts. Or the little museum with the ship-viewing station. 

Or this bunch of geese who’d commandeered the street and were in no hurry to go anywhere.

It got me to thinking that maybe the most direct route isn’t always the best. What do we miss in life when we’re so intent on following the quickest route? Are we just looking at the path ahead or do we notice what’s off to the side and who else is traveling with us? I’m far too guilty of the former, yet when I take the time to look around me, I’m always blessed. So, in this rush-rush world, I’m going to do my best to stop and look around. And maybe even take a detour or two.  How about you?  What fascinating things have you seen when you had to navigate off the direct route?