Are you familiar with the phrase “Want to make God laugh? Tell Him your plans”? Because while I have heard it several times, the good Lord decided it was time I experienced it firsthand. God has many methods of redirection/reevaluations, or setting us back on track to HIS glorious plan for our life, and I am back to using metaphors to illustrate what he illuminated for me.

There are 3 types of “re-directions” or signals we reach and they each serve a different purpose in life, but each is necessary.

The first way the Lord gets us back on track is by giving us a speed-bump, a small momentary set back that causes us to slow down, take a look around, and breathe. Speed-bumps don’t cause panic, and they don’t cause us to come to a stop, but they do give us a chance to take a pause and let it remind us to not fly through life- I mean the road. Speed bumps can come from something as simple as a loved one pointing out an unsavory behavior or path in the eyes of the Lord, and provides the necessary wake up to said behavior and path and allows for us to proceed with greater insight and a fuller and more Godly perception.

The second way I have found that the Lord puts us back on track is through stop signs, moments where we come to a halt in whatever it is we are focused on and take a look around. Perhaps we were so focused on OUR vision for our lives and needed the gentle reminder that we are at God’s mercy. These moments of pause give us broadened perspective to see what else is coming, fully evaluate if it is God’s will we are pursuing or our own, and allow for us to resume our ride through life with a refreshed perspective and focus.

The third way God redirects us to His divine plan is through a complete change in direction via a roadblock- those events or people that we can’t get past or that alter the course of our life entirely. These roadblocks redirect us onto a different path, and while the scariest and most dramatic of all signals- these re-directions can lead to the most fruitful aspects and opportunities of life. Going down a foreign and new path can be terrifying, but it is the wonder and novelty of these new roads that aids us in focusing on God, as we are totally dependent on His guidance for navigation and at His complete mercy.

It is so easy to get wrapped up in our “perfect” and ideal plans for our own lives and forget to place them at the feet and mercy of the one who gave them to us in the first place. Day in and day out, I tend to think up the “perfect” scenarios- whether it be in regards to my future job, the guy I like asking me out, or even something as seemingly mundane as acing that next test. In my mind, that is what would be my best and ideal life- but God. What He has in mind for us infinitely trumps what we plan for ourselves, and it is His plan that can claim true perfection. While a diversion away from our own set plans can seem catastrophic or worrisome, it in all reality is a chance for God to set you back on the path to His ideal plan. Whether it be through a speed bump, stop sign, or road block, He is using these moments of reevaluation and redirection to lead us all to HIS divine plan and purpose for our lives so that we can truly live them to the fullest extent possible. To quote the great Rascal Flatts, “Life is a highway” and with God as our navigator, and His plan our road, it will be the most wonderful ride imaginable.

This metaphor from C.S. Lewis paints it beautifully in his book Mere Christianity,

“Imagine yourself as a living house. God comes in to rebuild that house. At first, perhaps, you can understand what He is doing. He is getting the drains right and stopping the leaks in the roof and so on; you knew that those jobs needed doing and so you are not surprised. But presently He starts knocking the house about in a way that hurts abominably and does not seem to make any sense. What on earth is He up to? The explanation is that He is building quite a different house from the one you thought of – throwing out a new wing here, putting on an extra floor there, running up towers, making courtyards. You thought you were being made into a decent little cottage: but He is building a palace. He intends to come and live in it Himself.”

-C.S. Lewis

Love y’all and God bless!

<3,

Me