Lost?

Homing pigeons know how to find their way home, even if they are hundreds of miles away. They are born with this ability (one theory – the ability to hear ultra-low frequencies). They have this internal compass that helps them get back home.

Humans are born with their own type of internal compass, leading them to know where they’ve come from and how to get back.

“He [God] has planted eternity in the human heart…” (Ecclesiastes 3:11b NLT.)

We came from God. We were created by Him:

“So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.” (Genesis 1:27 NIV.)

The way back to God is through Jesus Christ:

“Jesus answered, ‘I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.’” (John 14:6 NIV.)

When you feel lost, you can search and analyze and try to figure it out until you’ve exhausted yourself, giving in to discouragement or frustration.

Or you can find the answers in the Bible, God’s Word.

Your internal compass was designed to lead you to God and His Word. You know you were meant for more. You know you have a purpose. You know Someone bigger created you. Even if you don’t know who it is just yet. You want to know Him.

And just like the homing pigeons that can be thrown into confusion when planes interrupt the ultra-low frequency sounds, veering them off course, we get confused and can even veer off course when the enemy of our souls tries to interrupt or distract us from our internal compass with his deafening voice that sometimes slithers in like a whisper.

We may even head in the opposite direction, believing it’s the right way—confusion can do that.

So what can you do if you’re lost?

Call out to God. He does not cause confusion. He is the One you can count on for truth. He is, after all, your Creator. And He’s given you His Word, so you can know Him and His plans for your life. Read it.

God has given you a longing in your heart that will lead you to Him and to His Son, Jesus Christ. And it is Jesus Christ who will lead you home.

“[Jesus said,] In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.” (John 14:2-3 NIV.)

(Photo from pexels.com.)

The Night I Almost Died

I was lying on a gurney in the ER, listening to the doctor explain how bad I was hemorrhaging. I’d had a C-section just six days earlier and wanted to be at home with our baby girl, not back in the hospital.

But I was admitted, had needles poked in both arms and hands, and remember the strange weight, the bags of blood lying by my leg as the nurse began the transfusion.

I was so thankful. I stared at those bags and thought, “Where would I be if those people hadn’t donated their own blood?” I knew the answer. I thanked the nurse as I leaned my head back on the pillow.

I fell asleep under a pile of heated blankets and when I woke up, I was in a different room with only a small light shining from behind me. There was an IV in my arm, and I was still lying in a hospital bed. The TV on the wall was quiet and there were no sounds coming from beyond my closed door.

Everything was still except the excruciating pain in my body. I’d been given a medication to induce labor; these were the same labor pains I’d had hours leading up to the emergency C-section six days earlier. Only now, I was alone with no cheering section and there would be no child to come from these pains, dulling my memory of the intense cramping.

I sobbed alone in the dark. I called the nurse and begged her to help me, to please give me something for the pain. It seemed I would have to wait.

As I remember that dimly lit room, it was there I needed God the most. I have no doubt that He was there, sitting in the shadowed corner, just waiting for me to call on Him.

But I didn’t call on Him. Why? Well, I’d been to church as a little girl, but I thought God was just this bigger-than-big Person who wanted nothing to do with me. Unless I messed up. Then I knew He’d show up on the scene to punish me with some ginormous lightning bolt.

Besides, I didn’t really need God. I was a good person and that was enough. I’d never intentionally hurt anyone or done some catastrophic wrong. So I thought I was good. If someone had asked me about heaven, I just assumed I’d end up there because I was, well, a good person. Oh, I’d found out about Jesus when I was little, even spent time with God in the woods behind our house (for that story, click here). But somewhere in my grownup mind, I moved away from Him. Maybe I thought He was going to ask me to give up everything fun, and I’d have no life whatsoever. (That, my friend, is what Satan wants us to believe, and it’s a big fat lie.)

But I can tell you how deathly alone I felt in that hospital room that night. The heaviness, the pain, the loneliness – it was unbearable. If only I would have known the truth about God, I would have called out to Him.

Perhaps He would have stepped from the shadows, His eyes so powerful and radiant and yet gentle as He smiled at me, bringing me comfort. Or maybe He would have remained unseen as He rested His hand on my head, singing over me, and bringing me such a peace I would have fallen asleep as the sound of His voice washed over me.

But we all have to face that “dimly lit room” where death is as real as the skin on our hand. Maybe you’ll survive like I did.

But what if you don’t?

Are you ready for that moment? Will you call out to a nurse, a family member, or will you call out to Jesus Christ Who is waiting; the One who has always been waiting for you to call on Him?

There is no detour around the only way to heaven. You can’t take a back road marked “Good Person Way” or “Church Goer Alley” or “Volunteers Enter Here.”

The only way to heaven is through Jesus Christ.

Just like the night I nearly bled to death but received a blood transfusion that saved my life, Jesus Christ gave all of His blood on the cross to save you and me.

That night I had to sign a paper agreeing to the blood transfusion. That was my part. The nurse did the rest.

Today you can agree, you can accept and claim Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior out loud, right now. You can claim His blood over you. That’s your part. Jesus has already done the rest.

The night I almost died, the doctor told me if I had waited until morning to go to the ER, I would not have survived. I’m so thankful I didn’t wait. Not only do I know Jesus as my Lord and Savior now, but I’ve had fourteen amazing years with my husband and our “baby” girl.

Please don’t wait to call on Jesus Christ:

“That if you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.” (Romans 10:9-10 NIV.)

“Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6 NIV.)

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.” (John 3:16-17 NIV.)