When you allow the Holy Spirit to have full access to your life amazing lessons can be learned from the most ordinary of things. After completing a long road trip I got in my car the other day and noticed that the windshield was covered in squashed bugs. I started to wonder how I had driven so far without seeming to notice the mess. That glorious still voice (my own voice but not my thoughts) proceeded to point out not one, but two life lessons to learn from the scene before my eyes.

Lesson #1. While driving the 800 miles home, I was not focused on the dirty windshield in front of me but on the road ahead and my desire to be at home to see my family. With that thought the lesson came roaring in behind it. While maneuvering the twists and turns of daily living, we must keep our focus on our guiding Father and not get lost in the mess that is often right in front of us. I am not suggesting that we ignore circumstances that affect our mood and decisions but to walk (or drive) through them with the knowledge that we aren’t just randomly living our lives. A life in Christ means that He has worked out and carefully crafted our lives with meaning and purpose and hope. If we get lost in momentary struggles and can’t see anything else we will end up with eyes turned inward and often find ourselves stalled or on the wrong road. God is not a distant and unconcerned “force” but a loving Father desperately interested in all the details of our lives and always with the desire to direct our every step if only we would look to Him beyond the squashed bugs.

Lesson #2. As I sat in my car enjoying the great lesson of trusting in His direction and vision for me I cleaned off my windshield and immediately received the next lesson. The clean windshield was a wonder to me as I could see everything around me with so much more clarity. I had become used to a dull and messy view and it became normal to me. I didn’t even notice it until I washed the windshield. How like our own lives that windshield can become. We get used to seeing dimly. We get used to God not being present in our moments. We get used to depression and disappointments and our hearts growing cold to the world around us. It is a gradual dulling until a sad life or a mad life or a lukewarm life seems quite normal to us. We are such a forgetful people and often we can’t remember what the view was like with a clean windshield. This is Satan’s plan for us but is never our loving Father’s plan. He wants us to see clearly and look at our lives with hope, expectation, and full of His joy and purpose. We must put cleansing water to our windshields and see His truth for us once again: we are His beloved and that He will never leave us or forsake us. He will restore our lives and bring back peace, joy, and love. You and I were meant to have extraordinary lives! Don’t let the squashed bugs of present hurts and troubles defeat us.

I listen and counsel people all day long that find themselves in what seems like hopeless or impossible situations. Don’t think for a minute that this post is minimizing the difficulties life can bring. On the other hand, I am fully convinced (because I’m living proof) that God always has a plan, always intends for good to come out of any and every terrible situation, and forever holds each of us tenderly in the palm of His hands. Your current situation (your windshield) does not define you. God is sovereign. Always.