When all else fails...

(inspired by a discussion I recently had at small group - this is more of a "Wow, what a obvious concept, I should of thought of it like this before" moment)

You ever notice that a lot of people's stories, including mine on more then one occasion, say they came (back) to God when they were at the absolute bottom of their lives?

It's not a uncommon or bad thing in anyway.

At some point in our lives with God or without God we will hit rock bottom, usually more then once. Or we will deviate from the path that is set before us for whatever reason.

Then we will pick ourselves up or come back to the path and say something along the lines of, "Okay, I'm back, I'm sorry, let's try this again and this time I won't mess up."

Then we do again. And again. And again.

Sometimes it's by our choice and sometimes we can't control the circumstances, regardless its sucks...to put it politely. But some, not all, do make the choice to come back to God and its a understatement to say that's nothing short of awesome. And in many cases God uses these events/instances so you can find Him.

Tangent over.

Back to discussing my opening topic sentence...what if we never took that other path, wouldn't life be just a little bit easier?

Thank you Capitan Obvious.

I mean instead of waiting to hit rock bottom or deviating from the path, what if we stayed faithful, consistent, trustworthy? Sounds simple (it's not) but the repercussions alone scare the crap out of me...to poetically put it. We head down a bad path and come back, fantastic BUT we will bring back baggage with us and there will be some sort of consequence. Both of our "returning gifts" will not be good and will hurt us and potentially someone else.

Well then what about the circumstances we can't control?

Then we know Who to turn to when EVERYTHING falls apart, so we in turn, don't fall apart and head down a destructive path. We build a foundation on a rock, so during the storm we can rely on it and come back to it.

We tend to see all the benefits/blessings we have when we continue to strive toward God...but sometimes we should look back and also see that because we didn't take that other path we just saved ourselves (and sometimes others) a lot of hurt. And we thank God for not taking that path.

There are a lot of scripture verses out there regarding us following God, here is one of many. Be encouraged as I was.

I guide you in the way of wisdom and lead you along straight paths. When you walk, your steps will not be hampered; when you run, you will not stumble. Hold on to instruction, do not let it go; guard it well, for it is your life. Do not set foot on the path of the wicked or walk in the way of evil men. Avoid it, do not travel on it; turn from it and go on your way.

Proverbs 4: 11 - 15

On another note, yes that is me in the DeWitt commercial...start that 15 minutes of fame.