Tuesday, November 11, 2014

Turn On My GPS

I was driving to a an appointment the other morning about 40 minutes away.  Although I had never been there, I didn't bother to put the address into my GPS because I thought I knew exactly where I was going.

As I was driving, I was asking the Lord for more faith in some situations in my life.  Then I remembered a book I had been reading about a month ago, and the author was talking about faith, and how it says in Romans 12:3, that we all have 'a measure of faith'.  The author went on to say, "While it appears that some may have more faith than others, the reality is we all have the same measure! This means that we all have the same potential to walk in the fullness of what Jesus died to give us, and also the same ability to act on what we believe to see God's power released to change our life, and our natural circumstances."

My thoughts on faith had to stop because I realized, I actually had no idea how to get to my appointment, and even though I was in the right vicinity, I was lost.  I'd like to tell you I stopped right there, put the address into my GPS, and then found my destination with no problem.  But, what I actually did was drive around, and get frustrated because I was lost.  I finally ended up asking two different women for directions.  One of the women sort of knew where I was headed, which really didn't help because, essentially, I was still lost.  Thankfully, the 2nd woman knew where I was going, and pointed me in the right direction.  All the while I had my GPS with me, and would have saved myself time and frustration had I just plugged the address into my GPS.

When I parked my car, I had one of those "ah ha" moments.  The Lord used my getting lost to teach me about wanting more faith.  I had my GPS with me the whole time that could have told me the right places I needed to turn, onto the correct streets I needed to be on, so I would have never ended up lost, or frustrated.  My faith in the Lord is much the same.  The Lord is always with me.  I have His Spirit living in me, His Word that I can look to, and my faith in Him to lead me (like my GPS) to where I need to go.  But, often times, I have a plan, or I think I know how the situation will play out, so I set out to do something, and tell the Lord "I got this", not realizing I'm not willing to put my faith in Him.  And, most of those times, I, usually end up lost and/or frustrated because my plan didn't work out; and, too many of those times, I want to blame the Lord.  When all the while, the Lord was standing back, and letting me work my plan.

I realized I don't need more faith.  I understood what the author was saying, when I accepted the Lord as my personal Savior, the Lord gave me all the faith I'll ever need.  What I need to do is rely on Him more and more...even in the small things when I think"I got this".  And, every time I rely on the Lord my faith will develop more, and it will be easier and easier to trust Him.

I feel sort of silly for writing this because I have been a christian for almost 14 years, and I would have thought that I would have grasped, and held on to this lesson a long time ago.  But, God is so good, and He's so patient that every time my faith needs a recharge, He doesn't condemn me.  The Lord patiently waits for me to "turn on" my GPS (aka- allow Him to lead me to the place where He wants me be).


In His Grip,
Jody