PATH

This post was written for Five Minute Friday

Word prompt--PATH

Five minutes to free-write about it

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I was once on a path. A very good path, I thought. A path that led to everything I had been searching my whole life for. I was so convinced it was the right path, I tried to persuade others to follow it as well. But God, in His infinite mercy and grace, did not leave me there.

It took extreme measures on His part, as I sincerely believed I had found all the answers and was no longer on a quest. But, in a most improbable way--probably the only one that would have captured my attention--He stepped in and rescued me from the darkness I thought was light. He opened my eyes to the lie I had bought into, turned me around, and set me on the path that really was the right one.

The details of this rescue mission are documented in my memoir, Sincerely Wrong: An Improbable Journey. (A free PDF copy is also available by clicking on the link in the sidebar of my blog.)

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Following is an excerpt from my book's AFTERWORD (pp 125-127):

Were I to see you headed towards some imminent danger, such as a cavernous hole in the sidewalk, it would be unconscionable of me not to warn you about it, and I would not hesitate to do so, even yanking you aside if necessary. . . . Don't be deceived, as I was, into thinking that there are many paths to God, or that we get to Heaven by being good. Although we were created to have fellowship with the Lord, Adam and Eve's sin caused us to be born into a fallen world. The Bible tells us in Romans 3:23 that "All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God," and in Romans 6:23, that "the wages of sin is death." Because of sin, a vast gulf separates us from our Heavenly Father, and there is no way we can cross it through our own efforts. Only one path can lead us to eternal life, and that is Jesus, "The way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through [Him]" (John 14:6).

The good news is that "God so loved the world [you and me included] that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life" (John 3:16). . . . This gift of salvation that is being handed to you can only be received by grace, through faith. It cannot be earned by good works (Ephesians 2:8-9), and as much as it is not God's will for anyone to perish, He will not impose His will on you or force you to accept it. The choice is yours.