Learning to rely on auto pilot!

I'm sure you have heard of auto pilot, the device on planes that allow pilots to walk away from the controls once the plane is steady and level. But I am thinking of another auto pilot. The one that happens but we never think about it.

Today I had to make a run for cat food. My cats aren't able to tolerate grain in their food, it makes them vomit pretty severely, so when they run out, it requires a trip to the pet store not something simple like Target or the grocery store. So I discovered late last night, we were out. The poor things would be letting me know in their obnoxious helpful ways that they were hungry.

So this morning I headed out to the first pet store hoping they would have what I needed. I found the first brand I needed and grabbed a couple of cans of their favorite food as well since it was on sale, but failed to find the exact brand I needed. Yes my cats are picky, creatures of habit and will turn up their nose at anything but what they love. A real pain if you ask me, but I am sucker for what they love.

So that meant that I would need to head a bit further out and go to another pet store about 20 minutes further, but I knew they carried that brand. So to kill some time, I do what my brother usually does and calls me when he is driving to check in and to pass time. Before I knew it I was pulling up at the store, grabbing a shopping cart and locating that brand of cat food. Sure enough, they had it and after paying for it, I resumed my call with my brother for the ride home.

When I got there and unloaded everything and finished my call, I realized, I got home, but don't really remember the drive. I know I stopped at all required red lights, stop signs and kept to the speed limit with using my bluetooth headset, (yes, I like being a safe driver while using my phone), but it dawned on me, I never really remember making all those required turns to make my way home.

Almost like I was on auto pilot.

How many times have you done that before whenever your driving home from some place you've been before and sat back and thought about it. Do you remember your drive home?

No, more than likely, because our brain takes over for us, because it remembers what we need to do without thinking about it!

You know there is going to be a spiritual note behind it all right?

Yes! Definitely, I got it when I was sitting down reading my latest novel, In Perfect Time by Sarah Sundin, who is a complete master at WWII romance stories. I kept running across the word auto pilot and God nudged me to share this message with you. I wasn't sure what to write so God sat me down and I began writing and low and behold you have what you are reading right now.

That the Holy Spirit is a lot like the auto pilot in our lives. As long as we are smooth and level, we go about our day in so many ways, never thinking about some of the choices we make, words we say or routines we go through because we are walking along the narrow road with God.

It's when we try and take back control and do things in our own manner, that we are headed for turbulence. We don't realize the consequences of what we say or do at times, and then are completely shocked by the results asking "where was God in the midst of that"

The answer is simple, we walked away to handle things on our own and in our own power instead of simply letting go and letting God take control of our lives. To go on auto pilot as it were. To help us make the right choices without thinking about it, to say the right things when they need to be said, to encourage someone through the low points of their life and most of all to be able to call up God's Word in a heart beat or to know right where to find it in the Bible.

God truly does know what He doing and the more we can stand beside Him and let Him lead, the easier our flight will be. I'd rather have God be my pilot than co-pilot any day of the week and the more time I spend with Him, the easier my day goes.

So the next time, you find yourself struggling through life, take a step back and ask yourself, just how far you have moved away from God?

Odds are, you know just the right way to get back on target, just don't wait too long before you do!

Proverbs 3:6 " In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He will make your paths straight!"