The right Path

As seen in the HEARTbeat and the Village Voice

“The Right Path”

            We travel throughout our lives wondering what is coming next.  We cannot, with great clarity, see what our future holds for us.  There are some situations whereby we know what the next few years hold, such as with a college student.  This person has, or at least should have a plan for the sequence of coursework to eventually arrive at graduation.  For those who know me, I had a yearly plan, a semester plan, a course plan, a monthly, and even a weekly plan; the last three based off of each course syllabus.  Planning in such fashion helps a student to, as the saying goes, eat the elephant one bite at a time.

            But for those of us who are no longer students, how do we plan our road ahead?  We may have weekly activities we regularly participate in and they occur on the same day and hour every week.  Strangely enough, for those who are no longer in the workforce, these planned activities help us remember what day of the week it is!  If we had no outside activities, our days would run together.  Take for example a hospital room.  Ever notice the dry erase board on the opposite wall from the patient?  It contains a lot of information like the nurse on duty, the doctor of record, vitals, as well as the day of the week.  Lying in a hospital bed can cause the days to run together, not to mention the medication the patient may be on.  And for us obsessive-compulsives, we not only want to know the day of the week, but also the compass direction as we look out of the window!

            God can open doors for us to walk on a path He wants us on.  The key here is to enter the path.  God can also inhibit us on this chosen path as well.  Ever been stuck or slowed in traffic only to come upon a wreck that had just happened?  If we had our own speed, we could have very well been in the wreck.  God’s hand is always on us.

            Retrospect is a great tool.  Take for a moment and look back over your Christian life.  God can be seen in the choice of the roads we have taken.  Even if you didn’t come to a saving knowledge of Christ later in life, you can still see how God’s hand was in your life, gently pushing and directing your decisions to have you where He wanted you to be.

            Bad things can happen to good people, no doubt.  Self and Satan causes most of these problems.  When trouble happens beyond our control, just remember who is in control.  Romans 8:28 says, “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”  God can and will use all things to draw us to Himself, IF we continue to follow Him and give Him praise, even in the trying times.