CROOKED & STRAIGHT PATHS
Remember the days before GPS – before the best route available was planned out for you, and you were guided by a voice telling you the path to take?
When I was a young girl on trips with my parents, I loved being the co-pilot, sitting next to my dad, following the route on the paper map, and giving him directions as we drove.
Maps and routes fascinate me – they always have. I always want to know which way takes the least time, then I compare it with the most scenic, and decide which route is best to take. I might not mind the sense of control it gives if I’m entirely honest with myself. Interestingly, I have a compass tattoo on my arm, reminding me of His leading and direction in my life.
For the last two or so years, God has highlighted Isaiah 45:2 to me: “I will go before you and make the crooked places straight…”Anything seemingly crooked in my life, I spoke to, filled with faith that “every valley shall be exalted and every mountain and hill brought low; the crooked places shall be made straight and the rough places smooth.” (Isaiah 40:2) Countless times, I’ve stood immovable on those verses, declaring it over my life and the paths before me, especially when the paths have seemed particularly rough.
Then recently, I was brought up short when I read Ecclesiastes 7:13, “Consider the work of God; for who can make straight what He has made crooked?” and it pointed me back to Ecclesiastes 1:15, “What is crooked cannot be made straight, and what is lacking cannot be numbered.”Ummmm...I thought God was in the straightening business, not making crooked?
Have you ever had a moment when what you’d firmly believed about God was brought into question, and it didn’t make sense? It was one of those moments for me.
But having experienced moments like this before, I viewed it as an opportunity for a conversation with Him.
“God, do you REALLY intentionally make paths crooked before us? You’re a good God. Why would you make something irrevocably crooked with no ability to straighten it?”
What did I hear in return?
“Who defined crooked as ‘bad'?”
I sat with that and thought it through logically. Instantly, I shot back in my memory to high school geometry – “the shortest distance between two points is a straight line.” Then, in my mind, I had a bird’s-eye view of the top of a tree-filled mountain and saw a starting and ending point. The problem was that it was impossible to travel in a straight line to get from one point to the other.
A crooked path around was required.
I began to think of the times on trips when Brian and I had chosen slower, winding paths because of the beauty we’d see and the adventure we’d find, and my perspective of crooked paths began to change.
What if God intentionally made some paths crooked for our benefit?
It’s not as easy or smooth as the straight path. It requires more of us, and may even mean letting go of certain things, including control and what seems most logical. While it may take longer, what we experience and who we become along the way are gifts from our loving Father, given on the crooked path.
This realization led me to consider the difference between paths crooked by man that God straightens, and paths crooked by God’s hand that can’t be made straight.
There’s great comfort in knowing that when I’ve messed up a path, He can fix it.
There’s great trust required in embracing my inability to straighten a path He’s made crooked.
Ecclesiastes 7:13 begins with, “consider the work of God…” When you look it up in Strong’s Concordance, “consider”1 means to see, look upon, or discern. When I look on crooked paths set before me, what do I see and discern? Can I see His greater plan? Can I trust Him in knowing He is good and loving and that what lies before me on the crooked path is an unexpected adventure that will grow me, even in its challenges, and I’ll see great beauty along the route?
So, how do we find our way on the straight or crooked path, orient ourselves, and navigate? He’s told us: “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.” (Psalm 119:105) That’s our Holy Spirit GPS voice leading us.
I still believe “Every valley shall be filled and every mountain and hill brought low; the crooked places shall be made straight and the rough ways smooth.” (Luke 3:5)
I’m also now content in and excited about the crooked paths. This new understanding has given me a lot of peace when I look back on times when I questioned God’s goodness. I see His lovingkindness in having me take rough roads that were far from smooth, and I’m grateful for who I have become along the way.
What is God speaking to you about the path you’re currently on or the one set before you in a new season? If we can pray for you as you “travel,” please reach out!
Living for Him,
Andrea (& Brian)
Endnotes:
- “Consider.” e-Sword, version 2024, Rick Meyers, 2024. Ecclesiastes 7:13
Our Mission: Love Others Well & Empower Them to Do the Same
BUILD: A WORD FOR 2026
I’ve never had a single one-word focus that carried across multiple years, but this year I realized that’s exactly what God has been speaking to me over the last three years. When I asked Him what His word was for 2026, I heard, “build,” and immediately knew this year would mark the culmination of a season.
As we talked, God reminded me of the word He gave me for 2024—alignment—and how He went before me, making the crooked places straight. That alignment prepared the ground for the foundation to be laid, and it required a great deal of excavating during that year. It included deep, piercing digging needed to set the structural beams in place, preparing them to carry the weight of what was coming. I was honestly relieved to see that year end, yet deeply grateful for what had been uprooted and removed, and I felt an expectancy stirring for what would follow.
Then came 2025, with the word structure. God gave me a picture of framing being erected and emphasized the importance of following His blueprints.What I didn’t anticipate was how much would be happening behind the scenes—or how long it would take. As the structure went up, so many unseen inner workings had to be installed, and that phase felt painstakingly slow. At times, it seemed like there wasn’t much to show for all the effort, even though essential work was being done beneath the surface.
When God spoke about 2026 being a year to build, I heard Him say, “Things will go faster now. The time-consuming aspects are complete. You’re going to see the rest come together much more quickly—the beautifying and finishing touches that make it ready for occupancy.”
He didn’t say a certificate of occupancy would be issued before year-end, but He did say it would be ready to be lived in for the foreseeable future.
I believe many of us have been in a similar multi-year season—first, the laying of a foundation that required hard (and sometimes stony) digging to create space. Then came the slow, often painstaking process of erecting the structure, where much of the work was hidden, and it felt like progress was minimal.
Now, I sense hope for what will feel accelerated compared to the last two years. There will still be important decisions to make, but this season carries a different kind of partnership with God. It’s as if He’s inviting us to “choose the paint colors and tile”—work that feels lighter, more creative, and “fun” compared to what came before.
KEYS FOR 2026
Recently, Psalm 27:13 has been a continual refrain: “I would have lost heart (other translations say ‘I had fainted’), unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.”I believe this verse holds a cornerstone key for 2026, along with a few others.
“Believed” comes from the Hebrew word aman, which means “to build up or support.” To build, we must believe—especially if we are to complete what God has begun without losing heart or fainting along the way. This word also carries the meanings: to be firm, faithful, steadfast; to trust; to be permanent or quiet—important in the sense of not wavering, grumbling, or speaking words of unbelief.
As Western believers, we often assume that what God births, or what sits squarely in the center of His will, should be easy or painless. Yet Jesus tells us plainly in John 16:33 (AMP): “‘I have told you these things, so that in Me you may have [perfect] peace. In the world you have tribulation and distress and suffering, but be courageous [be confident, be undaunted, be filled with joy]; I have overcome the world.’ [My conquest is accomplished, My victory abiding.]”
Psalm 27:13 is immediately followed by verse 14: “Wait on the Lord; be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart; wait, I say, on the Lord!”
This isn’t just repetition about courage or finding our inner peace and strength in Him—it’s intentional reinforcement. In the original Hebrew, wait means “to entwine, tie together, bind together, and wrap tightly.” And courage means “to fasten upon, seize, be strong, strengthen, help, fortify, conquer, be constant, and hold fast.”
To build in 2026, it will require us to:
- Wait on God—positioned as those who are entwined, tied together, and wrapped tightly with Him.
- Remain courageous—fastened to Him, fortified in our inner worlds, holding fast to what He has spoken and shown us.
- Find our peace in Him, even when storms rage, and we find ourselves standing in the middle of them.
Trials, tribulations, and suffering are opportunities to trust the Lord rather than be offended by Him. He has overcome everything we face, and His victory is ours. Knowing this, we can be filled with joy.
Some people say they’ll “never build a house again” because of how difficult the process was—and I get that. I can’t promise the build of 2026 will be easy, but I do know this: He is in it. He makes all things beautiful in His time (Ecclesiastes 3:11). Believing in Him keeps us from losing heart. And I truly believe this is the quicker part of the process—the season where transformation and completion happen much more swiftly.
I can’t wait to see what the Lord builds in each of our lives this year!
If you need a word of encouragement, a prayer, a friend . . . reach out - I would love to connect with you!
Living for Him,
Andrea
Our Mission: Love Others Well & Empower Them to Do the Same
