Release: 10 Days to Embrace God's Plan for Your LifeSample

Then He said to the crowd, “If any of you wants to be My follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross daily, and follow Me. If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for My sake, you will save it. And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but are yourself lost or destroyed?” LUKE 9:23–25

Have you ever felt like the path you were on was off? That somehow you had taken a wrong turn? After college, I got a job as a traveling professional development trainer. On one occasion, I rented a vehicle and had to rent the GPS separately. Once I got into the car, I put the GPS on the dashboard mount. I put in the address of my location, and it stated that I had a six-and-a-half-hour drive. What happened next caught me off guard. I was driving in the direction the GPS told me to go, yet I found myself on dirt roads far away from highways. I drove by large farmlands in the middle of Ohio. I kept on the path the GPS told me to take until I realized that every major road I had come across was not part of my route. Instead, my GPS was taking me down back roads. I was headed to Cleveland, and my GPS was directing me down the longest road to get there. After inspecting the GPS, I realized it was set to “back roads only.” Somehow, while the GPS was in my purse, I pressed buttons that set it on a path I was never intended to be on. Once I corrected the settings, I got to my destination by getting on the right road—which was quicker and smoother.

How often do we get into a car (which represents our lives) with a GPS (which represents the preselected settings of our mind and societal pressures) only to be driving in what feels like circles, unable to truly connect with the journey? In moments like these, God, in His love for us, will whisper, “Check the settings,” as He did for me in real-time. The programming of the world will often leave us feeling lost and confused, wondering, “Where am I?” Check the settings, my friend. When Jesus says you must give up your own way, He is saying, “Once you give up your life, your journey, and your way and decide to do life My way, that is when you will find your way.” I can’t tell you it will be an easy or quick journey, but it will be the right one. This type of journey happened to me when I left my job to become a full-time mom and wife. Before I left, I reset my settings by deciding my life was no longer my own, and I gave up trying to live my way. Now it was time to do things God’s way.

Prayer:

God, redirect my thoughts to You every single day. Redirect my motives. Redirect my desires. Release me to follow Your plans and Your purpose for my life.

In Jesus’ name. Amen.