Alignment

The following is a blog I wrote for Extreme Love Ministries:
www.extremelove.com/alignment/

Have you ever thought of your life in terms of alignment?  The need for your life to become properly positioned?  In different seasons of my life, I will pray and ask God to “align” me, position me correctly in relationship to Him and His will.  It seems like sometimes with the busyness and the wear and tear of life, I can become mis-aligned and need a reminder to be aligned afresh with my Father God. 

Recently I had about two months of down time.  A disc had ruptured in my back and I was unable to go about my normal daily duties.  Day after day, I would lay in bed or on the couch and just ask God to “align me”.  Align my back physically with healing and health, and align me spiritually with His purposes.  Align me with His heart.  Algin me, that I may be totally centered in Him. 

I have a metaphor in mind for alignment – many times our cars need a wheel alignment.  This is part of standard automobile maintenance, that adjusts or squares, a car’s wheels and axles with each other so that they’re moving in the same direction.  This is so imperative in life, that we be moving in the same direction that Holy Spirit is leading and guiding.  I love being about my Father’s business, squared up with Him. 

A car needs to be aligned typically every two-three years and this is so true of me.  Periodically, I need to just steal away for some undivided prayer focus or communion with God and check in and see if I am correctly aligned.  If what I have on my plate is what is on His heart for me.  If I am seeking Him first above all others, etc.

Here are some common car signs that you are dealing with poor alignment: Vehicle pulling to the left or right. Your steering wheel is off center when driving straight.  Ha!  I’m smiling because this week I was driving to into Phoenix and my SUV was strongly pulling me to the right.  I had to keep two hands on the wheel and call my husband and ask him, "is our car out of alignment".  His answer, "YES!"  Smile! This can be so true of our lives when we are misaligned.  I can feel a pull to other things, instead of focusing on what God has put in front of me.  I will “drive” along through life and find that something is just “off”.  My center, my core, where I am fully aligned in Christ, just needs  a little attention. 

Driving a vehicle with improper wheel alignment can cause uneven wear on the tires.  If your car's alignment is bad, driving becomes more expensive and can even be dangerous.  A bad wheel alignment can be dangerous because it may cause your car to pull or drift out of your lane or hydroplane on wet pavement. And, uneven tire wear can lead to a blowout or make you lose traction.  Wow!  Isn’t this a perfect metaphor of how it is when we are out of alignment – we can have “expensive” life mistakes and even cause harm to our own lives or those around us.  We can drift out of our lane that God has called us to and head into someone else’s lane, which inevitably causes us to lose traction, momentum and purpose. 

Practically what this looks like for me, is just asking God to align me and position me rightly with Him.  I will protect my time with Him and make it a priority, so I can hear from Him and give Him space to speak to me and move in me. I will read my Bible and let Him highlight scripture and then I will pray it back to Him.  I will worship, by faith believing that as I focus on Him, everything else will fall into place.  I will mentally go through my daily routine and ask Holy Spirit to highlight anything that needs to go and is not His will for my time commitments.  I will yield!  This is a big part of being aligned is yielding to the will of God and obeying what He is speaking. I will ask Holy Spirit to speak to me what the Father is highlighting and then I will listen to Him talk to me about those areas.  Sometimes this process can take days or weeks, as things fall into place in my heart and mind.  I am on high alert to the voice of the Lord in my every day life.  There is an expectancy that He is going to speak to me and that He is aligning me.  When I hear even a faint whisper, I take it to heart and begin to ask questions and pray into what I am hearing.  God is faithful.  He loves that our hearts are turned to Him and He wants to speak to us. 

When I am aligned, I call it the "cream and butter of heaven", like Job mentions in Job 29:6.  Some translations say, cream and others say butter, referring to Job’s blessed life.  That place in God where you know you are doing what He has called you too and there is a peace in being faithful positioned.  As we prepare to enter a new year, maybe you, like me, need a new positioning and alignment so that you can be fully focused, bearing much fruit for your Father’s glory!