Are you a directionally challenged person?  My oldest daughter freely admits being extremely directionally challenged.  As she puts it she can get lost crossing the street!  Several years ago her boyfriend arrived from out of state for a  visit.   They decided  to drive to the next town and go to the mall.  Being from a different state he didn’t know how to get there, so Rande was giving directions. Now the trip should have been a simple one.  It consisted of about 4 turns with one of those turning into the mall.  They were gone about 30 minutes and I thought all was going well.   They should have been there in that amount of time and happily cruising the mall. But then Rande called and the conversation went something like this:

(For an fun animated version of the conversation Rande and I had you may click here)
Getting Lost

Rande: Mom, we’re lost.  Can you tell us how to get on the road we are supposed to be on?

Me:  What road are you on now?

Rande:  I don’t know.

Me:   Well,  what do you see around you?

Rande:  There are fields on both sides of the road.

Me:  Ok.   Have you passed the gas station at the fork in the road?

Rande:  I don’t know.   I don’t think so.

So you get the gist of our conversation.  I’m not sure how they got unlost,  but I couldn’t help them.  It is a good thing that Rande now owns a GPS!

Rande did inherit her directional challengedness.  Truthfully I never realised I was directionally challenged until I was in my 30’s.    I can read a map and if I have been somewhere once I can usually get there again.  So I have never really been lost.  But eventually in life one does get lost on occasion and I discovered that I will always, and I do mean always, turn the wrong direction.  So you think I would learn and just start turning the opposite direction of what I am naturally inclined to do.  But, when I finally thought of that, I just couldn’t make myself do it.  The pull to turn the wrong way, which seems the right way is always just too strong.  It didn’t matter that all my previous experiences taught me that my internal compass always leads me the wrong way down a one way street.

Now lets apply this to taking the right path or not in life’s decisions.  If you’re a Christian, hopefully you have been reading your road map, otherwise known as the Bible, and you know  the right direction to go.  Unfortunately,  we all know how strongly the wrong direction naturally pulls at us and how hard it is to go the right way even when we know that we should.  Even when all our previous experiences in following our natural instincts gets us lost every time.  So what are we, the spiritually directionally challenged to do?  First remember that God’s ways are not our ways and His wisdom seems like foolishness to us.  But, if we are spiritually connected and turned on, God has given us a super powered, guaranteed GPS for our lives:

The Lord says, “I will guide you along the best pathway for your life.  I will advise you and watch over you.”– Psalm 32:8 NLT

Seek His will in all you do, and He will show you which path to take.  Proverbs 3:6 NLT