Foggy Twists and Turns

 Earlier this week our area was blanketed in a thick fog as I drove my daughter to school. Fog is such a weird sensation! It is difficult to see long-distance, but things can suddenly become clear as you get closer.

Everything looks shadowy and our eyes take extra effort to focus on what is in front of us. Only the sun or light can bring clarity to our surroundings. I was reminded that much of life can feel like a fog. We cannot see the future or the end result. Many times we find ourselves blindly clamoring through life, seeking direction, and really only having enough faith to put one step in front of the other. Fog can feel frustrating. We so desperately want to see clearly but have no ability of our own to make the fog disappear. However, the light of the "Son's" rays can push that fog out of the way and bring much-needed clarity. 

I was also recently struck by this odd sidewalk that I regularly walk on during my daughter's music lesson.

My personality tendencies like structure, uniformity, and rhythm, so the sight of this sidewalk unnerves me. In my opinion, the sidewalk needs to either be straight or have uniformed turns in it! But it is neither and looks so random and unattractive. Perhaps life can look a lot like this sidewalk. The twists and turns seem to have no rhyme or reason and just don't make sense! Situations can feel random or messy. We strive for an orderly life, making plans, but feel annoyed or frustrated when nothing pans out like expected or dreamed.

God wants to remind us that zig-zags and fog are part of our stories. His story is never random. His plan is perfect, no matter how messy, unclear, or zig-zaggy it is! Can we learn to trust the process and lean into our Guide? Will we surrender our tendency to control and let His light permeate through our foggy confusion? Can we be content with one step in front of the other, knowing God will bring clarity as we step out in faith? 

Perhaps there is a situation in your life where you long to see the big picture. What is the purpose of my pain? How can God ever redeem this situation? It's easy and human to wish away the hard stuff of life. But, if there is anything I have learned from the hard stuff, it is that God is nearest. Sometimes He speaks the loudest through our deepest pains. Our stories, even with random zigs and zags, are beautiful and filled with purpose. We may never fully recognize or understand the why on this side of Heaven, but God can bring much peace in the fog of uncertainty.

No matter what twists and turns or cloud of fog you are facing today, "I pray that out of His glorious riches He may strengthen you with power through His Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all of the Lord's holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ and to know this love that surpasses knowledge-that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God." Ephesians 3:16-19