Welcome back to Wilderness to Wisdom.
Have you ever been driving somewhere,
Realized you were going the wrong way,
And had to make a U-turn?
You could have just kept driving,
Hoping somehow you'd end up where you wanted to go,
But you knew deep down you had to turn around.
That is what today's episode is all about.
Step 3.
Make a U-Turn.
So,
Spiritually speaking,
A U-turn is called repentance.
And repentance is more than just saying sorry.
It is about truly turning and going in the opposite direction.
It is all about changing your mind.
Matthew 4.
17 tells us,
From that time Jesus began to preach,
Saying,
Repent,
For the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
Jesus began his ministry by first calling us to repentance,
So it's important that we understand exactly what that means.
Sometimes we think repentance is just feeling bad for what we've done wrong and asking for forgiveness,
But real repentance produces change.
It is a shift in mindset and in action.
And that requires us to face what needs to be changed.
When I went through and as I continue to go through this step,
I had to get really honest about areas where I wasn't letting God be in control.
This could include things like relationships that aren't healthy,
Finances you're trying to manage on your own,
Habits or thought patterns that don't line up with God's word,
Or a number of things.
Repentance is saying to God,
I've been going the wrong way and it's not working.
I've changed my mind from doing things my way,
And I want to do things your way now.
And it's an ongoing journey.
It is not a one and done deal.
It is continual course correction.
We live in a world that constantly pulls us away from God's ways.
So making U-turns,
Changing our minds,
It becomes a regular part of our spiritual walk.
And that's a really great thing.
It means that we're sensitive to God's voice and we're willing to make the adjustment.
I think about it this way.
Like I imagine a pilot flying a plane or the captain of a ship.
In order to reach the correct destination,
They may need to adjust little by little or sometimes by a lot depending upon the conditions to reach their destination.
So spiritually,
We're just doing the same thing.
We're allowing the Holy Spirit to course correct and point us in the right direction.
And there's so much grace in this.
Repentance isn't about guilt and shame.
It is about God's grace.
He invites us to turn back to him and it's up to us to decide to do so.
When we repent,
We open the door to restoration,
Peace,
And alignment with God's will for our lives.
I want to offer some personal encouragement here because making U-turns is not always easy.
It can feel uncomfortable,
Even painful.
But every time I've surrendered an area to God,
I've experienced more freedom on the other side.
Some areas have been easier to navigate than others.
For me,
One of the biggest challenges in my life have involved relationships.
While I haven't completely overcome everything,
There is a huge difference in where I'm at now compared to where I was a few years ago.
And I continue to walk in the right direction,
Making U-turns when necessary if I make a wrong choice because I want to operate with the mind of Christ in every area of my life.
One of the catalysts that led me to where I'm at now was a relationship that was wrong from the very beginning.
It forced me to confront the history of my romantic relationships with men and how I would without hesitation overlook everything of God and put my trust in men who always failed me.
I had to get to a point where I understood that if I continue going my way,
I would keep making a mess of things.
And once I understood that,
I had a choice to make.
I needed to change my mind and turn from the programming that I had accepted from the world long before I understood that I was being programmed.
It may have been through the things that I had seen from the experience of others,
Books,
Movies,
TV shows,
And things like that since childhood.
When I had experiences of my own,
I responded based on what I learned from the world,
Not from the Word of God.
I realized I didn't truly know the Word of God.
I needed to understand the life that God wanted me to have.
We were meant to be in relationship with others,
But I had such a dysfunctional view and I didn't know it because I was just moving along with what I thought was normal or inevitable based on my experiences and what I had been exposed to.
When you make a U-turn,
You drive back past the things you drove past while going in the wrong direction,
And this is the part where it can be difficult.
For authentic and lasting change,
We don't get to just say we changed our mind and won't do this or that again and sweep it under the rug as if it never happened.
I'm not saying that this is the case for every issue,
But for the deeper issues,
Many times that approach is a setup for failure.
We must have the courage to face things from our past and truly heal and break free from it so that we can permanently break that stronghold.
We have to plug things out from the root,
And we'll talk more about this as we move forward.
When we make poor choices,
We may say,
I won't do that again,
And we may be successful for a while.
If we don't deal with the root,
However,
We end up repeating the same cycle again.
The people involved and the scenery may look a little different,
But it's the same dysfunction.
It's like doing a 360 degree turn instead of a 180.
If we refuse to acknowledge the root of the problem,
Then that proverbial weed just grows back again and keeps us on a hamster wheel.
Always moving,
Always sick and tired of being sick and tired,
But going nowhere.
And as I said,
It's an ongoing process.
Turning around may seem like a setback at times,
But in God's kingdom,
It's actually a step forward.
As you continue to move in the right direction,
You'll see it for yourself,
And you'll experience the freedom and peace that comes with changing your mind to align with God's will.
I want to leave you with a few things to reflect on.
What areas of your life need a U-turn right now?
Where are you holding on to control instead of trusting God?
And are you willing to relinquish your control and trust God?
Do you even understand how to trust God and have true peace?
Take some time and really consider those things and talk with God about it.
As we continue this walk from wilderness to wisdom,
You'll find that you'll be better equipped to follow the path God has for you.
God will always course correct and lead us to the narrow path,
If we allow him to do so.
Thank you so much for joining me for this episode.
I look forward to continuing our journey from wilderness to wisdom.
