And the Lord, he it is that doth go before thee; he will be with thee, he will not fail thee, neither forsake thee: fear not, neither be dismayed. 

~Deuteronomy 31:8

Hi friends,

My youngest son, Benjamin, now has his driver’s permit. If you’ve ever ridden with a fifteen-year-old driver, you completely understand my nervousness over this rite of passage for my son. Cars are several tons of moving steel. It takes one brief second of distraction for disaster to strike. This nearly happened last week. Ben sat behind the wheel, and I sat beside him. We were simply driving to the Food Lion not even three miles away. We took an easier route that involved more right turns then left turns. As he drove down the side road to NC-109, I grabbed my purse and started looking for my gum. My attention was off my son and the road for maybe 30 seconds. In that time, Ben turned onto NC-109 barely stopping at the stop sign, and we were nearly smacked by an approaching vehicle going full speed. They slammed on the brakes, blared the horn, and swerved onto oncoming traffic. The oncoming car swerved off road to avoid hitting the car that was trying to avoid hitting us. Oh. My. Goodness. 

I nearly had a heart attack. Secondly, I snapped at my son: “What are you thinking? You don’t turn in front of oncoming traffic!” But really, the fault was mine (and I apologized later). I’m the experienced driver. My eyes should have never left the road. Ben needed my help and instruction, but I had momentarily become distracted. (And by the way, we avoided the accident thanks to the quick responses of the other drivers, but I’m sure a few choice words were thrown in our direction).

In this journey through life, we often want the control of steering our life. We have plans; we have hopes; we have goals. We try to navigate the bumps and the unexpected traffic jams, but this false sense of control brings about anxiety, stress, and worry. So, being the good Christians we are, we put Jesus in the passenger seat. “Help us navigate, Jesus.” Sure, we sometimes listen to his directions and cues, but our hands are still firmly gripping the wheel. Here’s the cool thing (one of many) about Our Savior: He’ll let us drive, but He will never be distracted. Because He loves us so deeply, in such a way that we cannot even comprehend His love for us, He will sit beside us and gently guide, quietly direct, soothingly encourage.

But how much more peace there is when we simply hand Him the wheel. The Word says that He has already gone before us. That means He already knows the way that we take. So, why are we fighting for the wheel? Why do we struggle with surrender when the Bible reassures us that His will for us is perfect and good?

If you’re anything like me, you need to be in control. Surrender is difficult. Maybe it’s because we’ve been disappointed by others, or maybe it’s because we don’t trust others to do it “our way.” When it comes to our walk with God, we need to swallow our flesh and pride and surrender control to the One who knows what He’s doing. Trust me, nothing is going to take Him by surprise. He will see you through.

Be encouraged! And pray for me as I try to teach my son how to drive! 🙂

Janice