It is easy to know when a person feels lost. You may not quite know how to describe it, but the symptoms are clear. Agitated, anxious, and brittle to any comment or suggestion is just the start. Defensive, often in cold sweats, and uncertain are common characteristics. If the sense of not knowing where one is or how to get to the destination holds on for any length of time, one's view of your self comes into play.
Knowing one is lost is another matter. The key is your self-esteem. Strong confident people often ask for directions sooner than others do. People with a clear picture of who they are, good or bad, recognize the symptoms of being lost much more quickly than those who are not sure of who and what they are.
A friend of mine is lost. She lives in a country that is not her own. She is in relationship that has an uncertain future. The very things that define her life, such as her job, her status in the network of friends she travels with, is in the process of undergoing radical change. She wishes for but has no sense of who God is or how God relates to her life.
It hurts to watch her deal with the symptoms of being lost. Her pain, anguish, and frustration are real. She is blind and unable to see to the core of her thirst and need. I seem powerless so far to find that words that will help. Now I wait, and try to be there when she needs someone to talk with.
I want to tell her about what it is like to know you are home. I want to tell her that my experience is a validation that God's promise is sure.
“I love those who love me; those who look for me find me.” (Proverbs 8.17)
I know that all I can do is nurture her journey and when she asks, point to God. Those who search for God will find. In the search, one discovers where they belong.
