“The Lord directs the steps of the godly. He delights in every detail of their lives. Though they stumble, they will never fall, for the Lord holds them by the hand.” Psalm 34: 23-24 

“Thank you for getting back to us. We will need your final answer by 10am EST on Monday. Have a great weekend.”

Have a great weekend?

With only 72 hours to figure out my next move, I knew my weekend would be anything but great. Faced with what would be a life altering decision, I immediately began to panic:

Should I take this opportunity?

Was this God answering my prayer? Maybe it’s the enemy trying to set me up for disaster?

What if I take this chance and things don’t work out, then what?

I knew I couldn’t move forward without praying. But every time I tried to pray, it felt like God was busy responding to someone else’s requests.

I started thinking maybe it was me; maybe God wasn’t responding because the prayers were coming from me.

So like any good Christian, I enlisted the help of people I was certain He’d respond to, you know the strong, prayer warrior types.

If God wasn’t going to answer me, then maybe they would have a better shot at getting His attention.

Except, every time I asked someone else to pray about the situation, the more it felt like I was being swept away by a cloud of confusion and uncertainty.

Perhaps you’ve been there before?

You did everything you could- praying, reading the Word, or even fasting, and yet still God seemed silent in giving you a definitive answer.

How do you move ahead in those moments of doubt and fear?

In faith and by faith!

After spending most of the weekend worrying, (and not sleeping), God finally revealed the real source of my nervousness.

Having made some really bad decisions in my past, it was my fear of making another mistake that was keeping me from stepping out in faith.

But as David reminds us in Psalm 34:23-24, “the Lord directs the steps of the godly. He delights in every detail of their lives. Though they stumble, they will never fall, for the Lord holds them by the hand”.

Whether physically, financially, spiritually, or even relational, falling hurts. Falling can also be extremely embarrassing and can leave us with some ugly scars.

But imagine for a moment what this scripture is saying.

God has a road map for each of our lives. That road map is so detailed; it even contains the very number of hairs on our head at any given moment.

The good news is God does not leave us on our own to figure out the winding roads of our destinies. No, He is with us every step of the way. And He guides us not from a distance but from close enough to catch us before we fall.

I don’t know about you, but that takes a lot of pressure off of me; knowing that even if I don’t always get things right, God is always walking alongside me, watching, and waiting to help me in my journey.

We can trust God to order our steps and perceived missteps.  In the end, He promises to work all things together for our good.

Reflection Prayer: 

God, thank You for the reminder that You are never too far away.  Thank You because Your arms are always open and ready to catch me before I fall.  Please continue to order my steps and guide my heart to fulfill the plans and the purpose you have for my life.  In Jesus’ Name I pray, Amen!

Reflection Scriptures:

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take.”  Proverbs 3:5-6

“If you go the wrong way—to the right or to the left—you will hear a voice behind you saying, “This is the right way. You should go this way.” Isaiah 30:21 (NCV)

“By your words I can see where I’m going; they throw a beam of light on my dark path.” Psalm 119:105 (MSG)