I have pondered deeply over the past several weeks about the intricateness of the will of God.

I have thought about how easy it is to get caught up in the busyness of life and how we so often can get our priorities mixed up. In these moments, we forget our true purpose in this life. It is simple to lose the mindset of my life is not my own-- but His. And to be quite frank, sometimes following the path that God is calling us to follow is not fun.

Our incompetent human nature steps in and assumes that we can make better decisions concerning our lives on our own. This is when we slowly stray from the path God has called us to. This path seems perfect at the head of the trail. It seems smooth, paved, and without blemish. However, the perfection quickly begins to halt and suddenly before we know it-- the small bumps in the path become massive pot-holes. Suddenly, the path begins to crack beneath our feet and we lose our footing. In these foot slipping moments, we begin to realize how far we have strayed. We realize how many miles we have trecked away from the path God originally laid before us.

And suddenly, life seems hopeless. Discouragement and failure seep through our entire body, and we feel as though we will never be able to find our way back to the path that we once walked. It seems far too hard and giving up seems more reasonable than any other alternative. We assume that God has closed the path for good, and we have reached a dead end-- the point of no possible return.

BUT I have great news for you friend.

God is not in the closing path business. You cannot stray too far. Your life is not ruined because you took a path that strayed from His. He will take you by the hand and guide you back ever so graciously. The path He leads you back to may not look exactly like it did when you were once on it. It will inevitably have altercations. However, these altercations are not bad. The altered path may have a few more blooms on the flowers. The stream that runs beside it may have a higher rushing current filled with new, endless possibilities. There may be fresh, new fruit on the trees ready for picking and crops in the fields that are ready to be havested. Your path has new characteristics and opportunities because it is a new season. Don't focus on what your path COULD have looked like-- focus on checking out what your path looks like now and how you're going to now navigate it.

Above all friends, lean close to Jesus. Dig in your heels firmly and refuse to be shaken by anyone or anything that does not push you toward Jesus. Anchor yourself so deeply in Him that there is no possible way that you can be moved. He still has a plan for you no matter how many times you have strayed. YOU, my friend, have a purpose beyond anything you can ever imagine possible.