"You Have Reached Your Destination"

Written for https://ballygowanyouth.blogspot.com

Well here we are the last week of 2020, the last Wednesday of 2020 and our last Wednesday Wisdom Blog.

I hope that you have enjoyed our weekly blogs and videos and that they have encouraged you on your journey with Jesus throughout the Autumn and Winter.

It’s always helpful to hear from others as we navigate this journey of life to learn from their experiences and use them to help us shape our faith. Life is a journey and each year that passes is another chapter on our journey of life.

Last week I went on a very different journey, one that should have been very straight forward, should have taken no more than 45 minutes but instead I ended up on an unexpected journey that ended up taking over an hour and resulted in a few scary encounters. 

I set off last Tuesday evening to deliver Christmas presents to my friends for their kids. A journey that I had done many times before, one that in reality shouldn’t have taken that long and one that was pretty straight forward. I worked out who all I had to drop off gifts to and what the best order for me to do that was, to ensure I wasn’t doubling back on myself.

I jumped in the car, carefully picked the playlist for the journey and set off for my first drop off. That was no problem, after all it was within the village, but then came drop off 2.

Again a trip I’ve done many a time but one that I still need a little bit of help to make the right turns for. So I punched the address into the sat nav and off I went. I knew where I was going the sat nav was directing me but I was fairly confident I knew I was going the right way.

A few minutes into my journey the sat nav told me to take a turn, a turn that I don’t ever remember taking before. 

So I ignored it and I drove on. 

A few minutes later it was still trying to get me to turn off the main road that I was on. The voice in my head was saying to me thats not right, you keep going on this straight road and turn at the end of it. However the voice of the sat nav kept telling me to turn.  After a few minutes I made the big mistake, I gave in and I turned off the main road.

Now don’t ask me where I ended up, don’t ask me how I got there and please don’t ever ask me to do it again. 

You see the sat nav had somehow worked out that it could get me to my friends house quicker if it went the windy, uphill, downhill, dark narrow country road way. Instead of the straight road that it would usually take me.

No joke, about 40 minutes in I realised that I should have listened to my inner voice.

My nails where firmly embedded into the steering wheel, the hot air was now turned to the coldest setting and my heart was dong backflips. I didn’t have a clue where I was, the sat nav did, but all I could see was the time until I reached my destination getting longer and the roads getting windier and narrower.

Eventually as I arrived at my friends house I breathed a sigh of relief and thanked God that I had made it, yes I was very late, but I had got to my destination and I was alive! He just laughed, he knew exactly what way I had come and knowing my driving skills found the whole thing very amusing.

As I headed to my next destination I was slightly less confident of where I was going but even still, this time, the sat nav was used as a co pilot, incase I wasn’t 100% sure of a turn. Needless to say this journey went so much smoother.

But that night as I headed home it got me thinking about this year.

Every year I like to take some time out on New Year’s Eve and think about everything that has gone on in the previous year and pray about the year to come.

Each year is a new chapter and a new journey in our lives.

2020 has been a rollercoaster journey for us all. It’s been a bit like my journey last Tuesday, full of twists and turns, difficulties, uphill battles and downward free falls. It hasn’t gone at all how we planned it. But one thing that I have been feeling God saying to me over the past few weeks is that he has used the journey of the past year to teach us and train us.

We don’t know what for but we do know that God will use these experiences for his good.

As we head towards the end of our 2020 journey I would love to encourage you to take some time to do one of three things, or if you want maybe all three. (After all we are in Lockdown 3, what else is there to do)

1: Take some time to write down some of the negative things, hurts or worries from this year. Pray over them and ask God to help you move forward then rip them up and refuse to carry them into 2021. Then write down the positives, keep them safe and use them to remind you of Gods goodness for us over this past year.

2: Right down some of your goals for 2021. What do you want to achieve. How will you continue to love your neighbour? How will you continue to take time out from all the busyness to take time for you? What do you want to do and what is God saying to you as you begin a new 365 day journey.

3: Write a letter to yourself to be opened in 10 years time. Write down some of you experiences from this year, note down some of the crazy things that have happened, things you are thankful for and things you don’t want to forget. Set yourself some goals for the next ten years. Then seal it up and put the date it is to be opened and store it in a safe place.

In a few short days we will wave goodbye to the long and windy road that has been 2020. To all its trials, worries and stresses. But we will forever remember the impact it has had on all of us and those in our world.

But the one thing we should always remember are these words from Jeremiah 29:11

I say this because I know what I am planning for you,” says the Lord. “I have good plans for you, not plans to hurt you. I will give you hope and a good future.

As we set foot into 2021 let’s make sure we keep God at the centre, let’s not forget all that has gone on this year but lets use it to help us keep reaching higher towards the prize.

God Bless and Happy New Year!