Having moved a fair amount in the last few years, I’ve gotten pretty familiar with my trusty phone’s GPS.  I just plug in an address, and away I go to my destination, not really noticing anything along the way.  After a few times, I can get to the place I want without my GPS, but I’m the kind of girl who goes by landmarks, not by street names.

If you ask me how to get to ALDI, I’ll tell that you go past the highway and turn left towards the school, then before you get to Pal’s you turn right.  Take that to the busy road with the park on the left, and turn left.  Go past the McDonald’s and it’ll be on your right.

Other people do directions in north and south.  “Go south out of the school and turn west onto US45.”  By the way, that wasn’t take US45 west, it was turn west, which would actually get you on US45 east.

I think that’s why I like GPS’s.  They just tell me where to go, when to turn, and don’t give me too many directions at once.  And no matter how many wrong turns I make, it will find another way to get me to my final destination.

The last time I made a wrong turn, my GPS kept trying to get me to take a U-turn to get back on the road it wanted me on in the first place.  It seemed like no matter how far I went, it just kept trying to turn me around.  After what seemed like a million times of hearing “Rerouting.  Make a U-turn…” the GPS finally figured out another way to get me there.

It dawned on me the other day that that’s what God does when we stray off of the path, too.  He keeps trying to get us back on the right path, the main road that he was taking us on.  At some point, though, he gives us over to our free will and allows us to take the different path.

Sometimes, if you’re one of my friends, that means driving a car onto the Appalachian trail – meant for walking only.

Sometimes that means driving on some one way roads.

Sometimes that means driving sixteen miles out of your way when it would have been quicker to just make a U-turn.

In my life, I’ve found myself on plenty of one way roads and trails my car wasn’t meant to be on, and even driven around the mountain just because I didn’t want to make a U-turn.  And yet, every time, God has eagerly pursued me, giving me over to my desires so that I will realize that His way was actually the better way.  That my car wouldn’t have run out of gas had I just done what he said the first time.  That I would have saved myself a lot of headache if I’d stayed on the marked road.

In this twisty turvy,  curvy, bumpy, and winding road of life, I’m hoping that I’ve learned to follow God’s GPS.  I’ll still take wrong turns, but I hope I’ve learned to listen when He calls me back.  That I’ve not taken for granted that He still pursues me when I’ve strayed.  That His way really is better.

Following God’s GPS may not always make sense, and it may not always be easy.  But it is the road I’m choosing to be on.  Because following His voice is the better way, every time.