Wrong Turn Grace

Now, when someone makes a wrong turn in the neighborhood, it's not such a big deal. It's not generally the case when you make a wrong turn off the interstate on one of dozen's of off ramps going this way and that, leading to parts unknown.

 I was assisting by reading our GPS directions and shared that we were supposed to take a specific off-ramp, but the driver took the one just prior to it, rather than the one I had stated.

 All these frustrated words started bubbling up inside of me as we were heading off on a ramp that would us further away from our intended destination, when I prayed for Christ's Wrong Turn Grace. There isn't a particular grace called a Wrong Turn Grace, but Christ wants us to go to Him in all aspects of our lives. I've found that when there are intense situations, I'm not always able to say a well-thought out, elaborate prayer, so if I pray to Christ something like, "I need Wrong Turn Grace," He knows what my needs are, and that frustration settles down and angry words don't leak out of my mouth that I would regret later. It's really worth trying!!!

Example of a Brief Prayer

But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved, even as they. Acts 15:11

I was with someone who was scooping up some free popcorn. They didn't ask me if I wanted any. The person told me that I should get a bag of popcorn and then took it from my hands. They wanted me to get the popcorn for them to eat later.

It's such a silly thing, but it really did irritate me. Didn't that person think about whether I wanted some or not? Couldn't they have asked me if I wanted some before they took it from my hands? I found myself getting frustrated at that person. Then, it popped into my mind that that's not what Christ wants of me. He wants me to be gracious to those who irritate me, but I was too frustrated to be gracious at that moment.

What I prayed was, "Popcorn Grace," and immediately Christ calmed me down, so that I didn't respond to the person in a less than positive manner. Although the "Popcorn Grace" prayer was very brief, I was asking Christ to please give me grace with this popcorn situation, so I would respond in a gracious manner, and He did! It amazed me that He knew and understood my brief prayer and granted me that grace, so I could be more gracious as an example of how He works in my life! I have continued to use these brief prayers which are changing my life and my response to others. If Christ can do this for me, He can most certainly do it for you, as well. Try it...what can it hurt?