I was on my way to my friend’s house the other night, and overly confidently decided to not use my GPS.

I called him and asked for a refresher on street names (which he patiently gave me even though I had been there numerous times before) and continued on my way.

About 5 minutes later, I was  stuck in his neighborhood and had no idea how to arrive at the house.

I made some turns, went down a few dead ends, made some more turns and then realized there was no way I was getting there on my own.

So, I asked my girl Siri to get me the rest of the way. I asked her for help, and she so graciously whipped up the little life-saving map on my phone and began to give me directions.

I realized she was giving me walking directions.

I was so close to the house, 400 feet to be exact, that she had to give me walking directions.

And such is my life.

These types of things happen to me often.

During the summer months, I love/hate to run.

Usually I run the exact same route to ensure I can expect every twist and turn and cross street. I don’t like surprises.

Since I moved this summer, the running territory was totally new and there for my exploring. I am a creature of habit, so “exploring” for me is running around the subdivision about 1 mile from home.

One August day, I began to run, feeling good and adventurous.  The robot voice from my Nike app gently let me know I had hit 1 mile.

Feeling great!

Then 1.25 miles. Average pace- 11 minute miles! Woo, I was unstoppable (sarcasm).

So there I was 1.25 miles outside of my apartment complex and I realized I am trapped in a subdivision. It was one of those confusing subdivisions that is in a weird shape and has 14 culdesacs and 17 side streets. I had no idea where I was or how I got there.

The obvious thing to do when you are lost is to live tweet the whole thing.

For your reading ease, I put the oldest first so you could read the story in chronological order from my escapade in August.

‏@jennakay_tweets
I specialize in getting lost in extensive subdivisions when I’m running

‏@jennakay_tweets
I have no idea where I am right now and I’m only 1 mile from home

‏@jennakay_tweets
So many streets and turns

‏@jennakay_tweets
At this point it could be hours til I’m back

‏@jennakay_tweets
I’ve run up two hills so logic tells me to look for hills going downwards

‏@jennakay_tweets
However my logic has also failed me many times before

‏@jennakay_tweets
#lost1milefromhome

‏@jennakay_tweets
Ok I have never seen any of these houses before

‏@jennakay_tweets
Maybe I should stop tweeting and start figuring out where I am

‏@jennakay_tweets
Need to find the main road

‏@jennakay_tweets
Crap it’s a culdesac dead end and thought that was the exit

‏@jennakay_tweets
I am determined to make it out of this maze of a subdivision without Siri

‏@jennakay_tweets
I’m giving it another quarter mile

‏@jennakay_tweets
These no outlet signs are starting to freak me put t

‏@jennakay_tweets
Out

‏@jennakay_tweets
Can’t tweet and run

‏@jennakay_tweets
Shaking my head

I eventually used the trusty walking directions to get me orientated back to a main road, and I arrived safely at home a few minutes later.

The irony of my running drama was that I was 0 .7 miles from home the entire time.

I was so close. But I was still totally lost. I still couldn’t do it on my own.

I had no idea which way to turn. I might as well have been 300 miles away.

This is so true when I try to do things on my own strength and ability in life: like I am SO close to where I need to be, but  no matter how hard I try or how many turns I take, I can’t get there.

It’s unbelievably infuriating. Realistically I should have been able to arrive at both of those places without technological help, but the metaphor of this story is reliance on God for even the smallest journeys of life.

The past year of my life has felt similar to being lost close to home; I KNOW I am close to the destination and I TRUST that I am not far from where God is leading me. But I am not there yet.

Some trips I am fully relying on Him for every step of the journey. But others, usually the smaller trips, I get confident that I can do them on my own.

There have been a lot of times in my life where if God had the voice of Siri, he would have to say,

“Recalculating…Recalculating…

Oh, Jenna you were not supposed to go down this road.

This is the wrong turn.”

Sometimes I realized it too late; damage had been done and there were consequences, while others God so graciously saved me from what could have been awful repercussions.

While I might still declare I don’t need to use my GPS while driving and try (and fail) to arrive places on my own, in life, this year is going to be full of twists and turns. I don’t stand a chance facing them on my own.

The beginning of a new year can be overwhelming: 365 days of unknowns face us.

No matter how small the journey, my prayer for myself and for others is that we commit to handing them over to God before we even take that first step.

Blessings not chins,

Jen