If you have never walked through the bottoms of a pin oak flat while hunting or hiking, you have missed an experience. One of the unique things you will discover is that everything looks the same. If it’s a mature forest the limb canopy will hide the sun, and if you are coon hunting at night it’s even more disorienting. In short, a person can get lost very easily. In these deep woods your GPS may not work. If you do not have a compass or know how to use it, you are in trouble.

The experience usually starts the same. When you got out of the truck you thought “I’ve got this.” “I know what I am doing.” “I have a good sense of direction.” “I’m not going to be long.” But what started out as an exciting adventure has now turned into that sinking feeling of reality. You thought you knew the way back. Then you recognize your footprints…and say to yourself, “I’m walking in circles, I’m lost!” Then it hits you. Night is coming and you have no matches, no light, no shelter, no water and only a package of old peanut butter crackers from last year’s hunt. And then you remember, “I don’t think I told anyone where I was going.” Now, you begin to hear strange sounds.

Maybe you feel like you are alone in the deep woods of life. Your deep woods might be at work, in your family or an addiction…you are feeling cold, alone, hungry & lost. Know this, you are not alone. I have been there and so have many of my friends and family. The Good News was when we recognized Jesus was there. I will never forget that Monday morning, standing at the front closet door when I heard His whisper, “Have you had enough of this or do you want some more!” I cried and said, “I’ve had enough!” It was at that moment He began to lead me out of my dark world.

It begins with asking Jesus to be the Lord of your life. My pride & self-centeredness had brought me deep into the woods-of-the-world. Accepting Jesus as Lord is having no doubt He knows the way out and has the power to get you home. Accepting Jesus as Lord means you recognize you broke His heart by pridefully going your own way and you ask Him for forgiveness. The journey out of the dark woods is not a cake walk. Let these words whisper to your heart. “Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, “This is the way; walk in it.” Jesus clarified this Old Testament Promise with, “And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever— the Spirit of Truth (Holy Spirit).” John 14:16-17. It is the Holy Spirit that dwells in each person who has accepted Christ as Lord & Savior who will guide, comfort, and even cheer you on during the journey. It is the Holy Spirit that enables a person to “Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. Such a person is double-minded and unstable in all they do.” James 1:2-8.

It starts with the Promise Jesus made to us, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” John 14:6. This is followed by “My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.” John 10:27

Have you had enough, or…