Seek: On the Road

“Seek his will in all you do,

and he will show you which path to take.”

Proverbs 3:6

Simpson Beach, Coos Bay, OR

I travel a lot. Living in the Pacific Northwest we enjoy ocean, mountains, and rivers all within a few hours of our home and spend every minute we can enjoying it. In the winter and spring you’ll find us in the mountains, usually skiing. As soon as it’s too warm to ski, we take our trailer on the road to the coast or the forest. Outside is where we are most happy, rain or shine (which is good, because it rains a lot here). But all this travel take a lot of planning.

I would not call myself a planner. I’m more of your “live in the moment”, focus on what’s directly in front of me, right now kind of person. But (thank you, Lord) my husband is an excellent planner. He diligently researches where to go, which way to get there, and what to do. He books the campsites and researches which site has the best view. If it were up to me, we would never get to camp because by the time I got around to it everywhere would be booked up. Oregon is serious about the outdoors so you need to plan at least six months out to get the “good” sites.

My gift, however, is the last minute planning. Need to find somewhere to go to dinner in a new city? I’m the Yelp expert. Need something to do for a few hours? I’ll find what events are happening this weekend or the most fun excursions. However I’ve learned, begrudgingly, that last minute planning is not the best way to do things. If you don’t have a plan, don’t prepare, you often miss out. The restaurant or campsite or dune buggy is all booked.  We’d have to settle for just hanging out or eating at the restaurant with the not so great reviews.

I’m the same way with life as I am with travel. Left to my own devices I’m without a plan, just winging it (happily, I might add). I waltz into the grocery store without a grocery list, certain I’ll remember everything I need and won’t grab anything I don’t. I decide last minute how to spend my time, when to get that workout or quiet time in, or what to make for dinner. But just like with travel planning, my lack of life planning can catch up to me.

I’m likely to buy way too many groceries without a grocery list, and forget that one thing I actually needed. I inevitably run out of time to do the things I need to get done because I didn’t allocate my time well. I don’t workout because I didn’t schedule the time for it and by the end of the day I’m too tired. I won’t have the ingredients I need to make the dinner I want because I didn’t plan ahead. You get it.

Just like we need a road map and a grocery list and a schedule, we need a plan for our lives. Without one we are likely to just wing it, and never really get anywhere. But don’t worry, the plan can be simple. Proverbs 3:6 says “seek his will in all you do and he will show you which path to take.” This is such good news! We do not have to have the plan all figured out - because God does. He knows how all the paths in our life will twist and turn, and all we have to do is seek his will and align ourselves with it.

How will we know we are doing this? Spend time in God’s word, in prayer, seeking him and learning his character. The more you do, the more confident you will become that you are living out his call for you. I believe we were all placed on this earth at this specific time for a specific purpose. If we do not take the time to seek what this is, we are living life without a road map and prone to wander, likely to miss out on a bigger better purpose.

But, there is joy in the seeking, on the ever-winding road that God leads us. Sometimes it’s nowhere near where we thought we would end up. But that’s life, too, right? One of my favorite places is called Simpson Beach, and the only reason we found it was by following some barely noticable signs. Through a gate in the back of Shore Acres State Park, down a trail, to one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever been. My family thought we were visiting to see a flower garden, but by following the path we found so much more.

When we trust and when we seek, we get little glimpses into the big road map God designed for us. Lean into the gifts he has given you, and you’ll start to see why he gave them to you and where to use them. You’ll find peace because you’ll see all the other things of this world are just noise. You’ll receive clarity and a purpose and a road map, and joy! I hope you spend some time seeking this week and find the sojourning all the sweeter!

May you Seek + Sojourn more,

Teddi Jo