Keys To Driving On The Road Of Life

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Have you ever noticed that one day the Lord will be speaking to you about being more bold and outspoken, but then the next day He'll be leading you to be silent? Have you ever noticed that one day the Lord will be speaking to you about storming the gates of satan for lost souls, but then the next day He'll be leading you to be patient like a gardener as you minister? Have you ever noticed that one day the Lord will be speaking to you to “get going,” but then the next day He'll be leading you to "be still and know that I am God?"

What's up with God? Why can't He make up His mind? Or is it that we're so flawed in our walks that God needs to constantly correct our course on the Road of Life lest we crash? When I first began regularly experiencing these "course corrections" and pondering these questions in my life, I wondered what was going on. What was God's purpose in all this?

What's Already Accomplished
I thought it was me. I thought that, even though I sensed that I had been on a "spiritual roll" of late, that I actually was in desperate trouble. Had to be, you know? I mean, look how God was having to TALK to me all the time. :-)

I had forgotten what many young Christians do; that God is not obsessed, like I was, with what remains to be accomplished in me. God focuses upon the wonder of what has already been accomplished by Him in us, but then also further urges us to keep growing in Him. And both encouraging us and correcting us are important parts of His plan. It's not a bad thing.

I'm Holding You
God taught me 2 lessons about the "back and forth" of His encouragement and correction. First, He told me as I prayed that "When I'm holding you over My knee and “spanking” you, child, I'm holding you." Wow. I realized that every time He had ever corrected me - and no matter how firmly - I had always felt His love. I came to a realization that has followed me all these years since. God deals with us as gently as possible and as firmly as needed. Our receptiveness to His leading determines His approach. But we will always feel His love as He corrects us.

One day He encourages, the next day He corrects. And He'll do both on the same day, if we're submitted enough to let Him. It's a good thing.

Driving Lessons
The second thing He taught me came to me in a vision. I saw myself driving my vehicle down the road in the town where I then lived. That was it. I just kept seeing myself driving.

Finally, the Lord asked me, "What are you doing with your hands when you drive?" After pondering it for a few moments, I told Him that I was using my hands to move the steering wheel back and forth so that my vehicle would go where I wanted it to go.

"But look at how you're moving the wheel," He said. And I realized that I was repeatedly moving the steering back and forth, left then right, over and over. "Outspoken, then silent." "Storming the gates, then patient." "Going, then being still." Oh.

"Inside your vehicle, you are constantly correcting your course," the Lord said. "But outside your vehicle, it is apparent that you are driving in a straight line. It's the same way with your spiritual life in Me, child. Every day, I offer my encouragement and correction and ask you to make course adjustments in your life. And when you obey me daily, and 'move your steering wheel' as I direct, your life in Me follows the straight path." Wow.

Isn't He Wonderful?
Isn't God wonderful the way He teaches us in a way that we each can understand His Truth? Isn't He gracious and merciful? Isn't He our best friend?

Don't worry if He constantly corrects your course. It's a good thing! He is keeping us on the "straight and narrow" way home to Him. He loves you! Don't forget......

For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD , "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.
Jeremiah 29:11

Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.
In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.
Proverbs 3:5-6

But the path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day.
Proverbs 4:18

I will lead the blind by ways they have not known, along unfamiliar paths I will guide them; I will turn the darkness into light before them and make the rough places smooth. These are the things I will do; I will not forsake them.
Isaiah 42:16

Journey Mercies! :-)

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Driving on the Road of Life is a long journey. You'll be inspired by this 4-minute long time-lapse video of a man driving all the way across the United States. This is truly neat.