Lessons Learned on the Prayer Path

I'm so glad it's not a week ago. Last Friday I battled an ugly attitude all morning. (Let the record show, I was not alone in this; according to Facebook, last Friday was just a bad day all around for everyone.) But for me, it was so bad, I closed my door at work to try to preserve my friendships through sheer lack of contact.

By lunchtime, I knew my best bet would be driving the prayer path and hoping God had something good to say to redeem the day.

(Last summer, during the days when I couldn't bear to go home during my lunch hour, I devised a driving path that would consume most of the lunch hour and keep me away from traffic, so I could ponder and pray. That path has become truly sacred ground to me and when I need to meet the Lord, that's one of the places I go first.)

Going on the prayer path last week was risky, because it's made up mostly of back roads, and I had no idea if they were clear or still snow-covered, but at that point I frankly didn't care. I needed to drive and pray, so I told a couple of the guys at work that if I wasn't back in a couple of hours, chances were good I was in a ditch and I'd appreciate it if they'd come after me.

I hadn't even exited the parking lot before I began unloading on God all the injustices and annoyances of the day. (In case He wasn't aware.)

Just a little way outside of town, I was gathering speed (both with the gas pedal and with my monologue) when I noticed the car in front of me braking for no apparent reason. I paused my bitter diatribe and looked around...

...to see a deer loitering at the edge of the road. The car ahead of me moved past, but I slowed down almost to a stop. I figured a deer-mangled car would do little to improve my mood. While I waited, she leapt gracefully across the road - truly beautiful to watch! (And a great reminder of why the camera should always be OUT of the bag and IN the front seat...some moments are missed while digging for it!)

God took advantage of the breath I'd finally taken to remind me of Psalm 42:1 - As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God.
That's just like God. Get me to stop talking for one second and then quote irrefutable Scripture to me. I think I giggled and shook my head all at once.

Since He had my attention, He went on to remind me that while I had chosen to expend all my energy on being mad and being worried and...being Bekah...a better option would have been to work on desiring Him instead.

Point taken.

I did not resume my yap-session, but just kept driving and as I approached my turn onto country road number one, I remembered that a few weeks ago, on a Sunday afternoon, I'd spent some time on one of my favorite time-wasters: online house hunting. I'm not looking to move. But I do love scoping out houses for sale. And that day, I found (online) a darling A-frame that I knew by the address should be somewhere on my prayer path.

As soon as my car rounded the corner, I looked up and that house sat in the woods looking right back at me. Are you kidding me? That house had been there the whole time...first one on the right...and I'd never even seen it?

Since I couldn't talk due to a dropped jaw, God took advantage of that moment to remind me that sometimes I'm just blind to what's directly in front of me, but in due time, I'm able to see.

That was a lot to learn in one lunch hour. I had to get a sweet tea just to make the return trip.

God's good with the object lessons. I never cease to be amazed at what He finds to use, and I never cease to be thankful that He takes the time to bless me with lessons that I can understand and that stick with me.

In case you need a spot of worship music for your day...here's the song based on that Psalm: