Have you ever been so convinced of how something should be that it absolutely floors you when it doesn’t look, sound, taste, feel like you thought it ought?

Maybe it’s a home project, a craft your working on, the driving time to a place you’ve been a million times but today traffic is jammed unexpectedly. Maybe it’s how you would like a job to be going or how things and relationships “should” be in the home. What do you do when you discover things are not going according to your vision?

I get mad. A determination to make it right begins to rise up from my gut; to make it how I envision it in my mind. “It must be different!” I tell myself over and over and over. This insistence hides behind self-righteousness and an ego a mile high and a mile wide – because my way is the best. I’ve got this figured out! Can’t everyone see that?

Pastor Graeme Sellers explains it this way:

“Once we’ve seized upon a scenario of our advancement, we insist it be realized. It seldom is. When it’s not, the demands we’ve placed on ourselves, others and God to make it come true become an accusation against the very life of God in us and against those whom God has provided to walk this road with us.” [1]

Then, with loving grace and discipline, our perfect Father shines a light on our wayward ways so we can see truth. We get a divine course correction.

When we begin to accuse, point fingers and demand with that internal fortitude that only we are aware of, God gently leads us to release control and trust that He’s got this.

Our ways are not the best. They are not the highest. Our understanding is a grain of sand on this long path of life. Truth be told, humility lessons of The Father can be some of the sweetest seasons. When we begin to release our grip on control trust begins to be the guide, not fear. Peace replaces inner turmoil. Joy instead of anxiousness and love instead of accusation.

We may go kicking and screaming, but Jesus doesn’t care about the how, He loves us as we are and cares only that we walk with him as he leads us down a better path bringing us to healing and refreshment.

Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
and do not lean on your own understanding.
In all your ways acknowledge him,
and he will make straight your paths.
Be not wise in your own eyes;
fear the Lord, and turn away from evil.
It will be healing to your flesh
and refreshment to your bones.

~Proverbs 3: 5-8

[1] Graeme Sellers, The Dangerous Kind, 2012, ISBN: 978-1-4750-3587-2