“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.” Proverbs 3:5-6

Something Pastor Rick Warren said has been continually on my mind. He said, “Focus on God, not guidance. The better you get to know Him, the less confusion you will have about what His will is.“

I don’t know about you, but I need a lot of guidance… every day…in so many situations. Family guidance. Marriage guidance. Parental guidance. Friendship guidance. Job guidance. Ministry guidance.

Just last week, there was a situation that happened to me, and I got completely overwhelmed about it.

Have you ever had something consume your mind and you just couldn’t seem to get free from it?

The mind can be such a battlefield.

I analyzed the situation from every angle. Still no answers. No direction.

Then it dawned on me that I maybe I should pray about it. (Yes, I’m sad to say that prayer was my last resort.)

So I went out on my back porch, sat down, and told the Lord the whole story. I told Him everything I was feeling…everything I had done to try to fix it. I told Him that I didn’t know what to do about it. After I got done talking to Him, I felt a peace, like a huge weight had been lifted off of me.

The circumstances hadn’t changed, but it’s like the fog in my mind had been cleared. It felt so good just to talk to Him.

Then the next day, God worked everything out in a way I never anticipated.  (Doesn’t that sound just like Him?) I don’t know how else to say it except that the Lord just took care of it. Now, things rarely go that smoothly for me, but I feel like God gave me that special gift to show me His realness and to teach me a valuable lesson about the power of prayer. All those things I had worried about and dreamed up ended up never happening.  All my fretting had been a complete waste of time and energy. I could have kicked myself.

Why did I wait so long to pray?

Prayer is powerful. Prayer changes circumstances. Prayer changes us.

What we really need to seek is God, because when we get God, we get guidance.

Many times the circumstances we face aren’t clear, and there’s not a clear answer. But there’s just something so powerful about being in His presence. His presence changes our perspective. Proverbs 3:6 says, “In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.”

Acknowledge HIM. Seek HIM. The verse says that “HE” will make our paths straight. Not “we” will make our paths straight.  Not “our spouse” will make our paths straight.  Not “a self-help book” will make our paths straight.  No. HE will make our paths straight.

Sometimes we are so focused on trying to get the answer to our problems that we forget HE IS THE ANSWER.

I spend too much time trying to figure things out on my own. I try to manipulate situations and people. I try to fix things like I THINK they need to be fixed. And when I do, I usually make an absolute mess out of things.

God’s will for our lives is all about relationship…a relationship with Him.

The more intimately we know Him, the less problems we will have understanding His will for our lives.

Instead of focusing on getting guidance, let’s focus instead on getting to know God. Acknowledge Him. Get in His presence. Talk to Him. Trust Him.

Need guidance?  Then seek Him. He is the ultimate GUIDE!