where waves grow sweet

Keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened. Matthew 7:7-8

I think I’ve shared my deep affinity for the gps component on my phone. It is such an improvement on the old days of printing maps from mapquest before leaving the house. The main problem with that method was that you had to know exactly where you were going beforehand, and there could be no deviating from the plan. If you took a wrong turn or added a stop, it changed everything and your map became ineffectual.

Now, I am free to hop in the car and drive, knowing that I have help when I need it. If I am completely lost and need to get a sense of my surroundings, this heavenly little gps will locate me by satellite and tell me where I am.  And, as if a gift from God for my existence on this earth, it can tell me how to get where I need to go. With “current location” as a starting point, and an address or a store name as an ending point, it will map out my course. No matter how many times I fail or get off course, it never shames me. It just adjusts the directions and sends me on my way.

Recently I got lost trying to figure out some spiritual things, and felt all turned around and upside down and inside out and couldn’t quite grab hold of the things I felt were sitting right in front of my crossed eyes. I tried to retrace my path but ended up somewhere I didn’t recognize at all, with a useless map on the passenger seat and a bit of panic rising up.

A good friend, who was walking out a major struggle at the time and looking for some answers, arrived at the conclusion that she just needed to seek the Lord by carving out time with him and he would set everything right. It is so simple, but brought me back to the truth I knew and forgot and know again. That there is no place on, above, or below this earth that the Lord can’t find us. Not only can he track where we are, but he knows exactly how to get us where we need to go. And not only does he know how to get us there, but it is his very heart to lead us there, step by step, until we arrive at our destination.

It doesn’t matter how many times we make a wrong turn, get distracted, or are lured off the path by some unnamed coffee shop. He will never shame us, and will always, always direct us in the way we need to go. The best part is we don’t even need to know where we are or where we need to be. He knows. He has the directions for every good thing we want and need. He knows where we need to be protected, and where we need to be stretched. He knows where we need encouragement, comfort, satisfaction, strength, wisdom, and all the rest. He has our healing in his hands. And it is all ours as we seek him, ask him, listen to him, learn from him, be with him. We will arrive at the places of our hearts desire, being better people for the company, and sporting a smile instead of the disheveled look of a weary traveler.