Find Your Way Back Home.

It doesn’t take much to get lost.

This thought came to my head as I walked down the street to my house. It was evening time a few weeks ago, and I had gone to visit a friend who lived in a part of the city I was unfamiliar with – mind you, a city I had only moved to a few months prior and was still finding my way around.

The bus I took back home had used a different route from the one I used to get to my friend’s place. Naturally, I kept my eyes glued to the scenery to be able to tell when I was back in my neighbourhood and close to where I could alight.

Thankfully, I saw a recognisable building and hurriedly came down. One would think that the story would end in a few seconds: I alight from the bus, walk home, the end. Yes?

No.

Remember how I said I was unfamiliar with this route and was relying on instinct? Well, I had two choices; walk straight down the road or make a turn. My sixth sense (and vague recollection) told me to walk straight down, but like a typical doubting Thomas, I chose to turn.

Unsurprisingly, I found myself in a part of the neighbourhood I’d never seen before – and worse, none of the tricycle or bus drivers I called were willing to take me back to my street. For 20 minutes, I kept walking further down the (wrong) road, trying to get a vehicle out of there to no avail, until finally, I decided to retrace my steps.

Would you believe it if I told you that my street was barely two minutes’ walking distance from the point I had diverted from earlier? As I (feeling silly and relieved) chuckled to myself a few blocks away from my house, I mused; It really doesn’t take much to get lost.

Lost (adj.)

¹ to be without sense of direction: not knowing where you are or how to get to where you want to go: unable to find your way

² lacking assurance or self-confidence: helpless

As the year wraps up and everyone begins the obligatory recap of the year, as people begin to bring out their journals and strategy boards to plan out big 2025, there is a certain group of people who might be feeling…lost.

Maybe you’re one of them, currently reading this. You strayed away from the path you were meant to and ignored the gentle prodding of the Holy Spirit. You made some decisions you regret but can’t take back. You stopped doing the things that kept you anchored; praying, studying, fellowshipping.

Maybe it started with one wrong turn, during a particularly trying season of your life in the past year, and somehow you’ve found yourself further and further down along this ‘wrong path’ and now the year is ending and you’re neither excited nor enthused. To you, 2025 is already a bust.

Well, as someone who deeply resonates with you, my message is simple and direct; you can find your way back home.

The devil likes to sell you the narrative that God is far from you, that mistakes condemn you forever, that difficult seasons last forever, that you won’t ever feel alive again, that you are too far down the wrong path.

The prophet Elijah is an example of another kind of this feeling. While he wasn’t necessarily going down a ‘wrong road’ (and I’m aware a number of you might identify in this category), he found himself questioning his convictions.

Despite living for God and even performing great miracles, an evil queen was out for his life and nothing seemed to be going right. Frustrated and fed full with the devil’s lies, he considered himself worth nothing and asked God for death.

But the truth is that what the devil sells you is a lie.

Whether you are brokenhearted;

The LORD is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.

Psalms 34:18 (NIV)

Feel tired and resigned;

There has never been the slightest doubt in my mind that the God who started this great work in you would keep at it and bring it to a flourishing finish on the very day Christ Jesus appears.

Philipians 1:6 (MSB)

Feel like you’re being punished;

[17] ‘For I will restore health to you And heal you of your wounds,’ says the LORD, ‘Because they called you an outcast saying: “This is Zion; No one seeks her.”’

[18] “Thus says the LORD: “Behold, I will bring back the captivity of Jacob’s tents, And have mercy on his dwelling places; The city shall be built upon its own mound, And the palace shall remain according to its own plan.

[19] Then out of them shall proceed thanksgiving And the voice of those who make merry; I will multiply them, and they shall not diminish; I will also glorify them, and they shall not be small.”

Jeremiah 30:17-19 (NKJV)

Riddled with guilt of mistakes already made;

Therefore, [there is] now no condemnation (no adjudging guilty of wrong) for those who are in Christ Jesus, who live [and] walk not after the dictates of the flesh, but after the dictates of the Spirit.

Romans 8:1 (AMP)

[25] I will repay you for the years the locusts have eaten- the great locust and the young locust, the other locusts and the locust swarm – my great army that I sent among you.

[26] You will have plenty to eat, until you are full, and you will praise the name of the LORD your God, who has worked wonders for you; never again will my people be shamed.

Joel 2:25-26 (NIV)

Or maybe you’re reading this and have never even experienced the love of a Saviour, battling emptiness and questioning the meaning of your existence;

[12] What do you think? If a man owns a hundred sheep, and one of them wanders away, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go to look for the one that wandered off?

[13] And if he finds it, I tell you the truth, he is happier about that one sheep than about the ninety-nine that did not wander off.

[14] In the same way your Father in heaven is not willing that any of these little ones should be lost.

Matthew 18:12-14 (NIV)

– whatever the case, the truth is God is – and always has been – committed to restoration. He isn’t just able to restore us, He is more than willing to. He is our True North, the point we should always stay on and never divert from.

So whether that restoration means a rejuvenation of our hearts with Joy, Peace or Strength, or whether it means a redirection of our paths from wrong to right, if you are willing, you can find your way back Home. ♥️