Written By: Patti Miller

I love traveling. I love to see new places. One benefit to my daughter’s husband being in the military is getting to see new places. I love to visit family, but I also love just taking a trip to discover new sights. Some destinations I have traveled to many times. Some I will travel to again, and others were a once in a lifetime experience. Don’t get me wrong; I am not a bonafide world traveler. I haven’t been to a lot of great museums or monuments, nor have I seen famous people, etc. I travel just for the pure pleasure of it, to visit family or friends, or to help someone in need.

One of my husband’s favorite sayings is, “It’s not the destination; it’s the journey.” For me, that is sometimes true, but there are times when I just want to skip the journey and get to the destination! Poof! In a blink of an eye, I’m there. But…life doesn’t work that way. Everything is a part of our journey. So often, though, we get so wrapped up in the destination that we don’t enjoy the journey. We allow ourselves to be miserable, filled with anxiety about wanting to get to our destination already.

I recently took a trip with my husband that we had taken many times, so we didn’t bother using GPS. Unfortunately, we missed a turn and drove quite a ways before realizing it. I had to turn on the GPS to find the quickest route back home. The new route took us down a road through farm county. I felt at times that we were literally in the middle of nowhere. The road was well-maintained but narrow and eventually turned to dirt. Finally, we made it back to familiar ground and continued our journey back to our destination (home).

“But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.” (Matthew 7:14)

“Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.'” (John 14:6)

Our Christian walk is a journey. Sometimes we know in our hearts without a doubt what path we should take. Other times we need to use God’s GPS, the Bible. We need to pray and seek God for directions. When we take wrong turns along the way, Jesus is there with an outstretched hand, guiding us back to the right path. It is so important that we never get to a point when we think, “I got this.” We need His guidance every day, every moment. We need to leave behind the things in our lives that hinder us from our journey with Christ. Our pride, stubbornness, sin, etc. Our journey is not always an easy one, but it is a beautiful one. Our destination is eternity with Christ, and that is our great reward.

“Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.” (2 Corinthians 5:17)

Step out today and take this journey with Christ. Trust God that He knows the way. He knows what is best for us. He wants to walk beside you, every moment of every day.

Written By: Patti Miller