Have you ever gotten lost on a road trip? Well, this summer a couple days before I left for college, I took a couple of my friends on a day trip for my best friend's birthday. Needless to say, we got lost. I'm from California and it is a blessing to live 2 hours from the beach and an hour and a half from the beautiful Yosemite mountains. Our trip was spontaneous and we were unprepared. Our destination was God's bath, (Ironic name of the place for this article I'm writing). I was the one driving, and I had Googled the place and it looked beautiful, from a couple of waterfalls to swimming holes. I had also Googled the directions. Failing to plan if something went wrong, failing to start this journey early, and failing to get enough gas resulted in this whirlwind of an adventure.

I have an old 1997 Honda CR-V, the thing could break down at any moment, and I packed my friends, our towels, food, and other necessities into my car trusting we would arrive at our destination on time and safe. As we started out the road ahead looked easy and fun. We were jamming out to our favorite songs, laughing over fond memories, and talking about life, everything a good road trip is known for. After an hour and a half of songs, laughs, turns, beautiful countryside, and gorgeous foothills, our GPS said we had arrived at our destination.

We got out of the car, and we were in front of people's houses. To our dismay, there was a sign posted on a tree that read "This is not God's Bath". Upset, we knocked on people's doors trying to get redirected. No one answered their door. Therefore, we called our youth pastor's wife to see if she knew where the real destination was. Luckily, one of our friends was over at her house and knew we weren't at the right place and knew where the right place was. With very little service, we managed to get directed in the right way. Upset, for wasting so much gas and time, decided that it wasn't worth it to head home and that we should keep on going. We didn't have an exact address, so we were trusting that the directions we had received were correct. After we had screenshot the directions, we lost service.

After about an hour driving upward toward Yosemite, we were in the heart of the mountains. We turned on the road we needed in order to get there, thinking it was going to be maybe 15 to 30 minutes more of driving. Hahahaha, not exactly. The road was super twisty and unsure. After 30 minutes, the complaining started about why we weren't there yet, being tired, hot, hungry, etc. We were stuck, 30 minutes in this long mountainous road that seemed to have no end. After an hour in, we came to this turn in the road. What else could go wrong at this point, right? Wrong! Thinking we were taking the right turn, it wasn't. Thankfully, we only had gone five minutes out of the way to realize that and turned back around. So we followed the other road, it eventually had to lead to God's Bath, or at least a main road. As we continued, I was getting more and more frustrated with the way things were going and I could tell my friends were too. To make me even more upset, I looked at my gas gage and thought There's no way we are going to make it back to a gas station before it runs out. No service, barely any gas, a mountainous road ahead, no signs of living, an old car, and five teenagers. It was really in God's hands now. Finally, I broke down and prayed while I was driving. Things were now out of my control and for some reason that scared me. I prayed that God would get us to our destination and that we wouldn't run out of gas or get lost again.

I couldn't see what lied ahead. However, after I prayed, the peace of God washed over me. I knew that we were going to make it. After I prayed, 15 minutes later that we arrived at God's Bath. Even though it was late in the afternoon and four hours later, we stopped to take in all that God had created. I was thankful God had brought us there with everything still intact. After we had finished there, it was only 30 more minutes of that mountainous road until we were on the main highway. Also, I made it all the way back to town without having to stop for gas. Talk about God's faithfulness and provision in our sticky situation.

After this long story, you're thinking "What the heck does this story have to do with trusting in God's plan?" But, that day taught me so much about trust. I put my faith in so many other things but Jesus and I think I can handle things on my own. So many times I forget to stop and say to God "Thy will be done." Many times, it's "Your will be done, but...". There's no "but" in trusting God's plan for my life. In my adventure, the road and the destination looked pleasant at the beginning, with no problems and a good, fun time. However, it wasn't where we were supposed to end up. The right road to the actual destination, looked unsure and was rocky with more turns along the way, and the journey was really long and we weren't sure if it was the right way or if we'd make it out without any problems.

So many times this is like our lives, the road we have for ourselves looks pleasant and easy with no problems but it's not the road God has for us. So many times we aren't willing to step out of our comfort zone and trust God with the road less traveled: the road that is scary, unsure, and has lots of turns. Sometimes we take that road and then take a road we aren't supposed to when the going gets tough, like we did in our trip. We veer off God's path for us. And when we do decide to trust God and take that road, we start complaining like God why did you bring me here? This is nothing but a dead end. I trusted you, but where's your provision in my situation? I'm tired of this, I should've done my own thing. It makes me think of the Israelites in the desert when God had brought them out of slavery. They weren't trusting in God's promise, instead they were complaining about what God wasn't doing for them. They failed to recognize the God who brought them out of slavery was going to get them to the promise land. That story is still so relevant.

Instead of looking at what God isn't doing for you, think about what He's already done.

Sometimes, we can't see what God has for us because He is maturing us and teaching us to trust Him. God is calling us to trust in His way daily whether we think it's the right road for us to take or not. Sometimes we aren't always going to see what lies ahead nor are we going recognize what God is doing in our lives. God is asking us to come to Him and surrender because we can't do it on our own. He ultimately knows what's best for our lives. Sometimes what we think will be a two hour journey, ends up being four hours. We just have to trust God that He knows what He's doing, because He is faithful. Although the journey may be longer than we expect and out of our comfort zone, there are beautiful things on the other side when we choose to trust God.