Pray & Process

Name a feeling worse than the feeling of being stuck and lost. I’ll wait…

I don’t know about you but what scares me the most is not having a sense of direction, not knowing where I am going and how I am going to get there. I like to think that instinctually we are all wired with a compass to some degree. Some have figured out how to use their compass and are well coordinated and some are like me, we have a functioning compass but sometimes we are unsure of our bearings and coordination points.

I’ve never enjoyed the feeling of uncertainty. In elementary school, the bell rang at 2:45pm and I could recall seeing all the parents lined up at the gate waiting for us to be dismissed and if my mother did not walk through that gate by 3:00pm I was a ball of tears running to the school’s office to find out where exactly she was. Maybe it was the fact that all the other children were going places and I felt stuck. Every time I would call my mother she would say “Denisha don’t you know I am on my way to get you. Stop all of that crying.”

Reflecting on my life now as a senior getting ready to graduate and move on, sometimes I feel like I once did when I was in grade school: STUCK. The truth is that we have all felt in some way stagnant and directionless. Every step of the way thus far has always been mapped out for me. Go to pre-school, complete elementary school, graduate high school, go to college and now what? Volunteer? Get a job? Do a master’s program? Pursue medical school? Uncertainty is a by-product of fear. For many of us our lives have been methodically planned out from inception and it is not until we get to the intersection of life that we have to figure out which way we are going.

It’s so easy to feel discouraged when we are “stuck” and don’t know which way to go. Especially when it seems like others are moving and we don’t even know what step to take or whether to use our right foot or left foot to make the move. Seeing all those kids being picked up and leaving to go somewhere else made me question everything I already knew. I knew that I was in a safe environment. I knew that my mother loved me and I knew that she was coming to pick me up. Yet, sometimes we let our situations dictate our feelings and present us with false realities. I knew that I wasn’t lost or “stuck” but my circumstance convinced me to feel otherwise.

Similarly, when we arrive at the highways and intersections of our lives we feel as though we’ve lost our way and cry about the feeling of uncertainty and being stuck. There is a Great and Mighty compass that never stops working and is aware of ALL the right coordinates and bearings for our lives. Even when we feel lost, stuck, stagnant, and unsure or however you want to put it, there is one who knows the plan for our lives and it is a plan of good success.

It’s okay to experience these feelings but we have to remember that our Awesome Compass will never lead us astray. Perhaps like my mother told me when I was younger, “Don’t you know that I am coming to get you? Stop all of that crying.” Maybe Christ is telling us the same relax, stop all of that crying and worrying. Pray and process what I’ve already told you and that is “I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” We have to know and believe that wherever we are, it is exactly where He wants us to be and He will guide and direct our paths.