While traveling to visit some friends in rural South Georgia, my husband and I were relying on a GPS unit to direct us there. Since the Global Positioning System (GPS) receives information from a network of satellites orbiting the earth, it can pinpoint the user’s exact location and then direct the user to the place he wants to go. Since GPS units are rarely wrong, we were quite at ease with following its commands. But at one point along the way, I became uneasy at what I saw when the voice coming from the GPS said, “Turn right.”

As James made the turn, I said, “This road isn’t paved! We’d better call [our friends] and tell them where we are. They’ll direct us.”

But my husband, who loves to take unfamiliar roads, said, “Let’s just see where this goes.”

As he drove along the sandy road, I became increasingly anxious. Houses were few and far between. There weren’t many intersecting roads or road signs. “Please turn around,” I begged. “We don’t know where we’ll end up!”

About that time, we passed a pasture in which cows and calves were grazing. James grinned at me and said, “You want to stop for a picture?”

The diversion calmed me down, for a few minutes. But just as I was beginning to get anxious all over again, we came to a beautiful pond. Once again, James said, “Want another picture?”

Minutes later, we came to an intersection and heard the GPS point out the road to take, which, thankfully, was a paved one. Soon, we arrived at our friends’ home and enjoyed a wonderful visit.

I’ve thought about that experience many times, especially here lately with so many folks having to journey down difficult roads, roads none of us want to travel: Disease Drive or Cripple Court or Ruin Road or Shame Street or Bitter Boulevard or Agony Avenue or Dead End Street or Despair Drive. We’d much rather travel on the proverbial Easy Street.

Yet, few, if any, of us can avoid Heartbreak Road. We’ll all travel there sometime during our journey through life. But as I learned during the GPS experience, we should sit back and enjoy the journey as best we can, confident that our Heavenly Father knows where we are at all times and knows the roads ahead.

And if we become agitated, as I did, and say, “This is not an EASY road. I don’t want to travel on it anymore!” may we do what my husband did and just keep on traveling, while keeping an eye out for “pleasant spots” along the way. And every road, even a tough one, has some of them. Right?

For example, when we’re struggling with things that threaten to overwhelm us, our hearts may be comforted by family and friends who stand with us in the difficulty. We may also learn to recognize the people and things in life that are truly important.

So when the road is difficult, as it surely will be from time to time, let’s journey on, grateful for whatever blessings are along the way and for the assurance we feel when our Father says to us, “’Do not be afraid. For I am with you’ (Isaiah 43:5). I know exactly where you are now and where I’m leading you. Just trust Me.”

©2008 by Johnnie Ann Gaskill jgaskill@charter.net