Where do we go from here?

“He revives my soul and guides me along right pathways for his Name's sake.”  Psalm 23: 3

What do you do when you are weary and lost? I don’t mean the type of tired that a nap will help but the weariness in your bones. Some people call it, World Weary.

When you are so tired you can't go on.
Photo by Emily Lukanich
For me, it happens when I am lost in a problem and I can’t find my way out. I become so overwrought by the struggle in front of me that I am wearing blinders. I can’t see that there may be another way. How do you address moments like this? They happen in every life and in every family.
Finding the Righteous Pathway
Photo by Emily Lukanich

I remember several years ago my family was facing a struggle unlike any we had ever seen and it seemed like we would never get out of trap we were in. I tried everything I could think of to solve our problem. Everything I attempted failed and led me directly back to the heart of the problem. I was going in circles.  One morning, I just sat down and gave up. I sat in my office and wept. I yelled at God and complained that he wasn’t helping me find a way out. (Do you see a theme here?)

You see in the midst of the problem, we had, I had lost my way. No longer did I see our problem as one we solved together but I saw it as my responsibility to fix everything. I forgot in my pain that I had an entire safety net to call upon.

The morning I gave up was the morning I began to trust that God would help us, because I had no other choice. I knew that the only way out was with God leading. In that moment of surrender, I felt a calm and a strength that I had forgotten was in me. After my cry, I knew that we were going to find the way out but I knew that I wasn’t doing it alone.  I knew that I would have to backtrack in order to find the right path. That morning I allowed God to show me all the people, He had given me to mark the right path. Those people supported and guided us out of the maze we were in.  

This does not mean that we don’t walk down the wrong path often still but I have been reminded that our family doesn’t have to solve every problem on our own. God provides with guides along the path so that we can continue to do the work we are called to do.
Conversation Starters:
  • Do you ever feel lost or overwhelmed by a problem?
  • Do you try to solve it alone?
  • What do you do when that doesn’t work?
  • What tools has God given you so you can solve your problems? Who has God given you to help solve your problems?
  • When you talk to God do you ask for help?
  • How do you know you are on the right path? What clue does God give you?

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