Almost everyone who knows me knows that I have sight, but that I really can’t see too well. I’ve needed new glasses for some time now, and I’m about sick of myself for taking so long to get them lol. Unless I am familiar with the roads I’m travelling, at night I absolutely cannot see. In addition to all those factors I also have hit a deer before. With all that being said, when driving and taking a route that involves back roads I experience severe anxiety. I will literally start to sweat and plead the blood of Jesus as I drive into the dark abysses of hell that call themselves back roads.
I told you all that information to bring you to the topic of this blog, which has to do with the route you take during different seasons of your life. More importantly the route God is telling you to take. I promise I have a point to make.
Last month I went to a concert with my roommate in another state. It was a night concert, so naturally when we were driving home it was late. As we neared home, my GPS directed us to get off an exit I was unfamiliar with. Since I didn’t know where I was going and was growing tired at this point, I assumed the GPS was just giving me the fastest route home so I followed directions. Immediately I realized that the GPS was going to take me home using the back roads.
*Side note it’s ironic that I hate dark, windy, secluded roads but there are so many of them that lead to where I currently live, which is in the middle of nowhere…..moving on.*
As I took each turn my anxiety level reached it’s peak and I began to shake and sweat. When I become anxious I have to escape the situation causing my anguish immediately. So here I was swinging around every windy, dark corner, driving at a speed well beyond what was safe. And again I could not see! My roommate was playing it cool, but she was terrified on the low that we were going to end up in someone’s yard or the woods. In the midst of all this the Lord chooses to speak to me. Really Lord?!?! How do you expect me to listen right now I’m stressed!
He said, “I know you wanted to take the highway because you thought it was faster and safer, but that’s not the route I needed you to take.” Somehow I just knew He was talking about something much further than my current dilemma. The next day I really thought about what He said to me. How many times have I tried to rush through different seasons of my life and tried to cut corners in His process for me, that I hopped on the highway when He clearly told me to take the back roads? Since we’re now talking about the spiritual aspect of this whole thing forget the literal points about my poor sight.
On second thought…..If you really think about it though, you can have poor sight spiritually. When we’re in a tough situation or season of our life, the reason we always want to take the highway is because we can’t see past the natural. If we would begin to view our journeys through the lens of God, and recognize that He knows our beginning before our end, then we wouldn’t oppose Him when He tells us to get off the next exit and take the back roads. What God is really telling with those directions is “slow down”. What bothers me so much about not taking the highway? Well there’s usually no lights, it usually takes longer to reach my destination, and it’s isolated. Kind of how we feel when we’re in a rough season, alone and in the dark. BUT those are the times when God develops us most. When it’s just you and Him and you’re fully dependent on His guidance because you can’t “see”.
Don’t get me wrong when things are aligned with God’s will in your life He can and will move very fast. In these instances He will take you over the highway, but when the potter is truly molding His clay, it usually occurs when He’s taking you through the back roads.
Don’t rush your process. Don’t cut corners. Don’t keep driving down the interstate of your will when God told you to get off the next exit 5 seasons ago.
The Lord knows you hate back roads and He knows you can’t see, that’s the point!
Follow God’s directions and most importantly don’t drive over the speed limit.
Below are a few scriptures to be referenced for trusting God and His directions.
Isaiah 30:21 – “Whether you turn right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, “This is the way; walk in it.”
Proverbs 3:5-6 “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.”
Psalm 32:8 “I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you.”
Proverbs 16:9 “The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps.”
Nichole Redeemed 
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