Have you ever found yourself in a situation where you were not sure what to do or where to go? Me, too. Everyone does.
“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 KJV) has always been one of my favorite Scriptures. When I first came to Christ, I was in a new believers’ class where we were challenged to choose a verse from the Bible and make it our “power Scripture.” At the end of the class, which lasted several weeks, we shared our power Scripture with everyone. We were all surprised with the personal gift of a bookmark printed with our Scripture on it. While that was over two decades ago, I still have that bookmark to this day.
As a new believer, I didn’t understand the significance of that verse in my journey through life, but it has become a guide for me throughout the years. In His infinite wisdom and kindness, God knew that I would need to often be reminded to trust in Him above all else. This was especially true as my husband and I navigated the daily ups and downs of life in a broken world. As with anyone else, there have been births and deaths. There have been finals and then graduations; starting jobs and leaving them. There has been raising kids and then watching them leave the nest, come back home and then leave again. There have been celebrations and there have been conflicts. For us personally, we’ve walked through kidney failure and dialysis, but then a kidney transplant; numerous cardiac arrests with death and resuscitation, but then regulation by a subcutaneous defibrillator; brain trauma and loss of memory from lack of oxygen, but then rehabilitation and a full recovery of mental function. Those are just some of the highlights. I could go on and on.
In addition to the wonder and miracle-working power of God, all these things share a common thread, which is that each event, each juncture, and everywhere in between, I was required to put Proverbs 3:5-6 into action. I cannot even begin to describe all the decisions that I have made that have been life-changing and life-giving, that came after spending time with God in prayer to seek His guidance. Sometimes, I received confirmation from a Scripture, other times from a friend, sometimes from a nurse who shared vital information at a hospital, other times from doing the first thing that God told me to do, which then led to a series of completely unexpected events.
For example, after my husband was diagnosed with kidney failure, we went to a specialist to learn about options. I felt the Lord telling me to share the information with our small group in a text. Not long afterwards, we were floored when a dear, sweet woman in our small group offered to donate her kidney. My husband happened to have a rare blood type that made him a “difficult match” for donation. Long story short, our friend ended up donating a kidney to a woman in the north suburbs of Chicago; that woman’s niece from Arizona donated a kidney to a wife in the western suburbs of Chicago; and her husband donated his kidney to my husband. Even more mind-blowing is the fact that the husband and wife were a match for one another. The husband could have just donated his kidney to his wife, but when approached by the surgeon, he agreed to donate his kidney to my husband instead. God is sooooo good! (There are not enough “o’s” to describe His goodness.) He is also no respecter of persons (1 Peter 10:34) – that means what He will do for me, He will do for you.
That was more than 10 years ago, and I’m still endeavoring each day to trust in God with ALL of my heart and not rely on my own understanding. His thoughts are not my thoughts and His ways are not my ways (Isaiah 55:8). For instance, I could not have fathomed that being obedient and sending one text would change my entire family’s life. That’s the way God is — He gives us direction and instruction, but we have to be able to silence our own internal and external noise to listen and then obey. We must keep our eyes focused on God to see His signposts along life’s journey that tell us the right way to go, and then we must walk therein (Jeremiah 6:16).
I haven’t always gotten it right, by any means. I’ve missed some turns and exits along the way and had to double back (shaking my head just thinking about it). You can read about these times in my future book, “Detours,” that I’ll publish when God says to do so. In the meantime, I’d like to suggest a great tool that has helped me to recover when I’ve discovered that I’ve unfortunately gone the wrong way.
Journaling has been critical and life saving for me. Once I got past making it a religious and legalistic ritual, I was able to be free to journal when I could, without feeling guilt and shame that turned into a stumbling block when I didn’t. As a result, I have years of journals where I have recorded entries that allowed me to process my feelings as I walked through painful and traumatic seasons, prayers and conversations with God about those situations, myself and others, dreams and visions that I’ve had over the years, and prophetic words that have been spoken over me – some of which I’ve seen come to pass and others that I am still watering in prayer and waiting for expectantly. Most of all, during times of uncertainty, I have been able to go back and read previous journal entries and see the breadcrumbs that God left in the past so that I could find my way back to where I needed to be. He is so faithful. Trust Him.
A journal doesn’t have to be fancy or expensive, although if that’s your cup of tea then go for it. I purchase several of the composition notebooks at the beginning of the school year for fifty cents each and use those. It’s not the packaging, it’s what will be inside that becomes the treasure.
Also, every now and then, put aside some time (and maybe a box of tissue, too) to go back and read what you’ve wrote. You will be encouraged by how much you’ve changed, trials and tribulations that you’ve come through, prayers that have been answered. In addition, I’ve stumbled across things (such as writing books) that God told me to do but I forgot about when I became busy and even overwhelmed by the cares and busyness of day-to-day life. It happens. It’s been my experience that God will lead you to the page of your journal that you need to see, just when you need to see it. That’s what happened to me yesterday when I came across a dream from months ago that was confirmation and direction for what I am supposed to do now. God has been leading His people from Genesis through Revelation, and He is the same yesterday, today and forever (Hebrews 13:8).
God is with you on your journey and at your crossroads, He is telling you the way to go. You just have to be still and know that He is God (Psalm 46:10). Now, get out your journal, read it, and write some more, so that you can recognize God’s signposts.