How to Come and Go with God

by Johanna Johnson

“The human mind plans the way, but the Lord directs the steps.” (Proverbs 16:9)

I am a planner in the first degree. I really like to be prepared, and to know what’s going on – or if things are to be left open, I like to know that we are planning to leave them open. “The human mind plans the way,” the wise author of Proverbs writes. And this is a condition my human mind knows quite well.
And yet, the sage goes on: “but the Lord directs the steps.” Ah, now there’s the trick. Looking back on my life, some wonderful experiences have come from planning. But the most fruitful and important experiences of all have come when all my logic said, “No, don’t do that,” but I let the Lord direct my steps anyway. They have come when I have leapt out in faith, telling my fear to take a hike. They have come when I simply ride the wave of God’s will, rather than reason my way out of it. God’s will took me 2000 miles from my California home to a little private college in Minnesota. God’s will took me 6000 miles from home to a village in Slovakia. God’s will took me to an Ivy League divinity school I never had any intention of attending. And God’s will took me to SW Florida for an internship that has proven an essential experience for me in my growth in ministry. God knows what God is doing, it seems.
Is it easy to ride this wave? Nope, not at all. But is it exhilarating? Absolutely! The most wonderful thing about the Lord directing our steps is that we know that with God as our navigator, we’ll end up in the right place. Maybe that place is far from home and everything familiar. Maybe it is exactly what is home and familiar. But it is always right – right where God intended.