I like to believe that I have many strengths and skills, but navigation is not one of them. I have always been terrible at solving math problem and puzzles. For me, trying to navigate an unfamiliar area gives me a similar level of anxiety. When I don’t know what steps I need to take or where I need to go, it often causes me to feel overwhelmed.

Having recently moved to a new city, I have had to rely on my GPS and terrible navigation skills to get everywhere. Yesterday, I was going to a store that I had been to a couple of times already. I wasn’t paying attention, turned too early and ended up getting on the freeway, adding 20 minutes to my drive.

Later in the day, the plan was for me to park my car at my friend’s house and walk about three block down the street to my other friends’ apartment. Long story short – I got lost trying to walk three blocks to an apartment that I had been to a couple of times before. I wasn’t trying to get there from memory – I had my GPS in my hand giving me step-by-step directions. Honestly, it was humiliating that I got lost trying to walk three blocks.

Today, I was going to visit a new church in the area. I arrived at what I thought was the right church, went inside and looked at the sanctuary. Suddenly, I realized that the sanctuary looked different than the picture I looked at online. I had turned too late and ended up at the wrong church (I stayed for the service anyway).

These are just a few examples of how difficult I find the process of navigation, even in somewhat familiar areas. When I am driving to a new place, it makes me anxious when I don’t know what the next step is going to be. I like to know as far in advance as possible what I am going to do next – turn left, turn right or keep going straight.

Sometimes when I am looking for a new place, I panic and lose trust in my GPS, which might be part of my problem. I think to myself, “Maybe it making a mistake….maybe it forgot to tell me one of the directions. But it looks like I need to turn here, so I’m going to.” When I take matters into my own hands, that’s when I end up going south when I should be going north or adding 30 minutes to my drive winding through neighborhoods.

On the rare occasion that I am able to keep calm when navigating, I’ve noticed that something interesting happens. If I listen closely to the GPS and trust what it is telling me, I can often get to new places with no trouble at all. When I start to feel lost, I panic and try to find my way on my own, which has yet to end well for me. However, when I stay calm and listen, I notice that the GPS tells me exactly where I should go with just enough time for me to plan ahead.

When I am out in the world, trying desperately to find my way, I can’t help but think about how my experiences with navigation reflect my relationship with God. I will often conclude that I know what is best for my life – the right decisions to make, the right actions to take and the right company to keep. I let myself think that I know how to reach my destinations in life on my own, without His help. For me, the reality is that I would be completely lost without God’s direction and guidance as I walk through this life.

When I am navigating, I am amazed by how easy it is for one small error to turn an entire trip into a stressful disaster. I can be sailing along smooth, making great time and then out of nowhere, I miss my turn and end up in the completely wrong direction. If I zone out for too long when driving somewhere new, I will end up completely lost. The wonderful thing about the GPS is that once it realizes you are off course, it re-routes you back toward your destination. You know need to tell it to do anything – it knows that you have made an error and it eager to help you correct it.

My struggles with navigation make me think about when Peter was walking out to Jesus on the water. Peter does just fine when he keeps his eyes on Jesus, but when he gets distracted and looks away, he starts to drown (Matthew 14:22-36).

In my walk with God, it’s incredibly easy for me to take my eyes off of God and get completely off course. In my journey to become more like Him, I take wrong turns on a daily basis. As a result, I am confused, anxious and utterly lost. I have no idea what I can do to get back on course.

Much like the GPS, God recognizes when I have taken a wrong turn and gotten off track. I realize that I have made a mistake as well, so I freeze and panic. Much like the GPS, this is where God re-routes my path, since there is more than one way to become more like God and to obey him. Eventually, by His grace and guidance, I am able to make it back to where I need to be.

However, following God can be more challenging than following a GPS (which is already practically impossible for me – yikes). There is no voice telling me step-by-step how I should live my life, no map to glance down at and no estimation of when I will reach my destination. In contrast to navigating on the road, navigating the path that God has marked out for our lives can be even more challenging.

One of the keys to following God’s plan for my life has been to pray and to listen to his voice – not necessarily an audible voice, but keeping my eyes open for where He reveals Himself in the Bible and in the world. Further, I need to trust that God knows the plan, even when I can’t know in advance which way I will be turning next. Finally, I need to have peace in the process of navigating this crazy world with God as my GPS.

Just like when I have peace and trust that my GPS knows what is best, when I have peace and trust that God knows what is best, the pathway God is leading my down in life starts to become clear. Usually, the first steps involve thinking less of myself and focusing on my own problems. From there, I believe that loving God, becoming more like Him and loving others bring me to the destinations in life that God desires for me to reach. With God as my navigator, I find that I feel just a little less lost.