He Wants Us To Ask

He Wants Us to Ask

Teach me how to live, O LORD. Lead me along the right path.

Psalm 27:11

Cassie’s friend Sandra likes to think of herself as independent and competent. But she shared with Cassie a tough lesson she learned during her first trip to New York.

She lived in Michigan and had been invited to a writers’ meeting an hour north of New York City. She was both elated and nervous. New York was the end of the world to her back then, and she wondered how she would fly to LaGuardia Airport, rent a car, and even with a map, drive on those mysterious East Coast parkways.

Throughout the flight, she ran troublesome scenarios through her head. By the time the plane landed and she picked up the rental car, her nervousness had escalated. Before she put the key in the ignition, she leaned against the steering wheel and prayed: Lord, you know I have a horrible sense of direction, so please help. Then with a great sigh, she started out.

At each stoplight, she reexamined the map, often whispering, “Which way, Lord?” Amazingly, even at unmarked corners, she turned correctly.

She enjoyed an incredible meeting and a calm drive back to the airport.

That evening her plane landed on time. It was a mere twenty-five-minute drive home, a route she had driven dozens of times. As she located her car in the parking lot, she didn’t say it, but her attitude was Thanks, God. I’ll take it from here.

An hour later, her frustration growing, she was still trying to get onto the proper highway. It wasn’t until she prayed, again asking for help, that she finally got on the correct road.

Since that long-ago evening, she has often had to turn her self-reliance over to the Lord and say, “Please don’t let me take it from here!”

As Cassie pondered her friend’s statement, she whispered, “I’m tired of being in charge, Lord. I give this part of my life to you.”

And as soon as the words were out of her mouth, she knew her healing had begun. —SANDRA

Lord, even when my words don’t say it, my attitude announces that circumstances, events, and even life itself are in my control. Help me to ask for your guidance. Then help me to follow it.

We work, we pull, we struggle, and we plan until we’re utterly exhausted, but we have forgotten to plug in to the source of power. And that source of power is prayer. —EVELYN CHRISTENSON, AUTHOR AND SPEAKER