“How did I get here?”
This phrase is very common but more often than not, it isn’t used in the literal context of one taking a turn down the wrong road or ending up at the wrong building suite , no, it is regular used to ask the question of how a person could possibly have ended up in this ‘ fill in the blank ‘ situation, in this moment and place in their life.
Maybe it’s the marriage that was built on a foundation that rivaled fairy tales but, shattered by betrayal, dissolved into a nightmare. Perhaps it’s the woman who is single and successful, who can afford just about anything money can buy but, in an empty bed stained with regret, is reminded yet again that self-worth doesn’t come cheap and her souls bank has insufficient funds. It could even be the well-coiffed church lady, she serves and she gives- she prays and she fasts. She is utter perfection yet her only contact with her son is a covert once a month visit where they’re separated by glass and can only hear each other’s voice through old cord phones. It could be something more simple – a steady, respectable 9 to 5 work earning solid money with some to spare, pouring into their 401K and planning for a stable retirement but…when gazes drift to the window in a moment of calm the thought of what if chances had been taken and passions pursued would the person be joyfully creating art or singing a melody or perhaps raising a child adopted from another nation. Would life have more meaning?
Some of these scenarios are extreme, but the questions within them? Not so much. And while it’s okay to ask how you ended up where you are currently it’s important to know God has no intention of that being where you’re staying. Some of you just cringed at the word God – some of you are so disappointed in how life has turned out and ashamed of choices made and chances lost that you’ve pulled away from His presence, shied from His light. You tell yourself “I’ll go to God when I get there.” But where is there- do you know the way?
Jesus said “I am the way” and if we spend our lives caught up in our circumstances, crippled by failure and life’s disappointments, pulling back from God till we ‘get it together ‘ or just get ‘ there’ we will stay lost and confused and broken. But don’t you know Braveheart, God isn’t interested in being where you’re going – He wants to be with you where you are – in the mountains and the valleys, in the victories in the defeats, in the laughter and the tears, He wants to be there. He is a very present help in our time of trouble, if we call to Him He will answer and sweep in to save our day. He’s not just a God Who sits high and looks low, He is a God who stands up and steps down to be where you are – He just wants to be with you. He just wants to hold you – to bring peace to your panic, calm to your chaos, restoration to your regrets and faith out of your fear.
Oh Braveheart won’t you let Him in today? Open the door and let the King of glory enter into your life because He and He alone can ‘reroute’ your life’s course and set you back in a place of abundance, destiny, passion, and promise. You aren’t too far down the wrong road that Jesus can’t reconfigure you into the right direction. Don’t you think it’s time to stop this wandering? To stop this hiding? To let the One Who is the Way show you the way home? You don’t have to strive to get to Him, His love for you is so deep and endless that simply a cry for your lips will have Him at your side, taking your hand in His nail-scarred ones and gently, safely leading you to the place you belong and as you walk long enough with Him one day you’ll look over and realize here, in His presence & by His side, is the there you were always looking and longing to arrive at. And in His presence is where disappointment gives way to destiny, self-hate is traded for self-worth and confusion gives way to peace that passes understanding.
Hope is not lost, faith has not failed – Your Shepherd is here to rescue and set your feet back on a sure path. You simply must let Him in, not to where you pretend to be, but where you really are – right now, today.
Jesus is knocking will you answer? Will you let Him be where you are?
- Jessica Haggy
