Lost in Alabama

by Melissa Konetchy

As I drove around in the late afternoon, I wondered where I was going. My destination was the Alabama State Fair. I was lost and each wrong turn bothered me more, but I continued on, frustrated, confused.

"What is a California girl, like myself, doing? Driving around without a map or co-pilot in Alabama? I should just turn my car around and drive home. It may take a week, or so, but I need to go home."

I considered making a detour and driving through places where my friends lived. No, I thought, I should go straight home, as soon as possible.

Then suddenly, I realized I didn’t have to be anxious, concerned, or afraid. I wasn’t lost in Alabama. I was already home. Safe and warm in my own bed. The dream I’d had of being lost in the American south was over.

This taught me lessons for days. The earnest desire I’d felt in my dream to be at home—to feel whole—was attainable. Thinking I was somehow lost, alone, or isolated, was a dream. I hadn’t been lost in Alabama, and I wasn’t unable to understand that I am always safely connected to God.

This made me think about how every day people get caught up in very realistic nightmares, which confuse and distract from realizing what is spiritually true. Some of these dreams may take the form of fears, sickness, relationship problems, etc. But my “lost in Alabama” dream showed me that we don’t necessarily have to work out a complex solution and begin plugging away to resolve the problem. It’s possible just to wake up—wake up to the simple truth that God gently cares for us always. And this realization can lead to immediate solutions.

There’s a verse in Psalms that has something wonderfully illuminating to say about God’s direction, "Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path." (Ps 119:105)

God guides our steps and and His direction is the light we need. I think that our real job is to fine-tune our following skills. God already has a plan for each one of His children, we just need to follow His lead. That’s right. We just have to follow in the path God lays out for us.

When the power goes out, and the lights and electricity turn off, we sometimes have a lantern, or a flashlight, or a candle. All of those light-sources are excellent ways of being able to see where you’re going. If you use the candle to illuminate the pathway down the dark hallway, you won’t bump into the walls, slip down the stairs, or knock something over. The better we get at understanding Truth, God’s orderly, beautiful plan begins to unfold, naturally. Then we can see enough to take the next step…and maybe that’s to a figurative window, to open the shades.  Then, light floods into our thought and we can see everything clearly.

Even in the middle of a very realistic life dream, we can awake ourselves to the fact that God does not create confusion. This is true! And that realization can help us see everything clearly. And waking up to God’s good doesn’t have to take time or require complicated solutions. I believe that nothing can prevent us all from hearing and knowing God and His plan of good for us, because God is in charge. 

So let’s stop being hypnotized by fear and frustration. It’s a long drive back to California…let’s just wake up and be there already!

This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 6th, 2008 at 3:18 pm and is filed under Safety. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.