I have no sense of direction.

The stuff of legends. I have been lost all over the world.

It drives me crazy when the voice on my GPS instructs me to turn south. I want to hear right or left, not north or south. Because in my mind, whichever way I am facing is north. It’s easier that way.

My sense of direction further disintegrated when I moved to Greece. Why?? Because there isn’t one straight road in the entire country. I often wondered if the road engineer based his design on a bowl of spaghetti.

One lovely spring, our son, daughter-in-love, and adorable granddaughter came to visit us in Greece. Being crazy world travelers, we decided to take a quick drive to Istanbul. It was only a 6 ½ hour drive, and with all of us in a van, it would be cheaper than flying. Also, our daughter who lived in Central Asia would be able to hop over and meet us.

So we set off on our merry adventure. Our sights were set on seeing the traditional tourist attractions; the Blue Mosque, the Hagia Sophia, and the Spice Bazaar. I’ll confess, my priority was the Spice Bazaar.

Once we crossed into Turkey, we quickly discovered a couple of important things. The cost of gas was outrageous. We figured we were paying around $14 a gallon. Also, outside of the tourist areas, Turkey was not very English-language friendly. Few signs were in English, and we had trouble finding English speakers to answer any questions.

Even worse, our cell phones weren’t working, which meant no GPS.

We were on our own.

We managed to get to Istanbul and picked up our daughter. Then we began our trek to find the part of town with the Hagia Sophia and the Spice Market.

Now, our daughter had been to Istanbul a couple of times and felt she could point the way to our destination. Unlike me, my daughter has a pretty good sense of direction. We didn’t realize most of her travel had been on the subway. Underground. She’d never actually seen the road system.

But we soldiered on, following her pointing finger. We could almost see our destination, but couldn’t find the correct road.

Suddenly we found ourselves driving towards a toll booth on a bridge. We frantically tried to find a place to turn around, but we were out of luck. When we pulled up to the toll booth, there was no smiling worker or any instructions written in English. We panicked, and not knowing what else to do raced through the toll booth.

It felt like we drove for miles. We were waiting for a police car to drive up and pull us over for not paying the toll. A scenario played through my mind where we were stopped in passport control and not allowed to leave the country because of a camera shot of our van running through a toll booth.

As we drove along, frantically looking for a way back, we suddenly saw a sign. In English! We pulled up and read:

“Welcome to Asia.”

My first thought was,  We’re going to end up in China!

That is where I first learned that Istanbul is one of the few cities that spans two continents.

We managed to find a place to turn around, and passed the only other sign written in English, “Welcome to  Europe.” Slouching down in our seats until only the top of our heads were visible, we sped back through the toll booth and tried to blend into the crowd. If stopped, we planned to use our adorable curly-headed blonde granddaughter as a diversion. Or an excuse. Fortunately, we found our original destination and were able to do the touristy things we had planned. Which included purchasing lots of spices and pottery at the bazaar.

When I’m traveling, I have to rely on my GPS for direction. Otherwise, I’ll start out in Europe and end up in Asia.

I’ve found I also need a GPS in my Christian walk. And that GPS is the Bible.

It is so easy to find myself wandering down the wrong path. Sometimes my life path resembles those narrow winding roads in Greece. But then I recall the words of Proverbs 3:5-6,

“Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not rely on your own understanding; in all your ways know him, and he will make your paths straight.” (CSB)

In recent months, I’ve received recommendations from women friends for a couple of self-help type books written by Christian authors. As I began to read one of these books, I found lots of inspirational and feel-good statements sprinkled throughout the pages. But once I got past the feel-good and started comparing what I was reading to what the Bible taught, I realized this author was leading me down the wrong path.

Now, I’m not saying that we can’t find help and truth in human books, but I’m saying we always need to read through the lens of Scripture. As I search for direction in my path, I remember the words of Isaiah 30:21, “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.’” (NIV)

I’ve learned the hard way that I can’t trust my sense of direction. But I can always trust in God’s direction when I listen to His voice and His Word.

He is my true north.