38. Trust the Path: Praying Loved Ones Back to Truth

Have you ever watched someone you love drift off the path you thought God had for them? It’s painful—but it doesn’t mean their story is over.

In this episode of Courageous Retirement, Vona Johnson shares insight from Scripture and personal experience about what it means to trust God’s plan when life doesn’t look the way you expected. Discover how to walk in peace, even when others take detours, and how God can use every path—straight or winding—for His glory.

✨ In this episode:
Why detours and delays don’t mean God’s plan has failed
How to release control and rest in His timing

The hope found in Isaiah 15:20—"Whether you turn to the right or to the left, you will hear a voice behind you saying, ‘This is the way: walk in it'.”

If you’ve ever asked, “Did I miss God’s direction?” or worried that someone you love has, this episode will remind you that His light still leads the way.

🔗 Listen now and be encouraged to Trust the Path.

00:00 Introduction: A Heartfelt Concern
00:34 Facing Life's Detours
01:04 A Personal Anecdote: Navigating Challenges
02:41 The Struggle of Faith and Love
04:05 Encouragement and Hope
04:38 Trusting in God's Guidance
06:25 Conclusion: Keep Praying and Loving

#CourageousRetirement #FaithJourney #TrustGod #ChristianLiving #FinishWell #LiveYourMore #FaithJourney #LongingForMore #LiveYourMore #ItsNeverToo

Thank you for stopping by today! Remember to Engage Your Faith and Live Your More as you reap the benefits of Courageous Retirement!

To watch the video, check out my YouTube Channel!

Learn more about the show, author Vona Johnson, and more at vonajohnson.com!

Schedule a free 15 minute Your Path to More call with Vona.

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Transcript

0:00

Have you ever watched someone you love, take a wrong turn? Not on the road, but in life and felt powerless to bring them back?

Vona Johnson: 0:06

I recently had lunch with a younger person in my life who I love very much and was really disheartened to learn that they no longer believe that Jesus Christ is their Lord and Savior. That they believe in the worldview that being good enough is enough to be saved and that there's a higher power, but it's not necessarily God. Believe me, it was really discouraging to hear these words come from this person I care so much about.

Speaker: 0:34

Do you fear? What lies beyond retirement? What if it's a gateway to a life filled with purpose, meaning, and adventure rather than an end? Discover peace and fulfillment as you boldly enter this new chapter in Courageous Retirement, a Christian podcast. I'm your host, author, and coach VNA Johnson. Let's get started.

Vona Johnson: 0:52

You too may have someone that you love walk away from Christian biblical truth. It's something that's very real in our society today, and it's very difficult, to accept as believers. It reminded me of a situation recently that happened to me and how God can help use our situations in life to get us back on track. Years ago I was in a very large five car pile up on the freeway and have a real aversion to driving in the city. When you drive in. In Pierre South Dakota where there isn't much traffic, driving on freeways is, is a little intimidating. Anyway, we're at a convention in the Twin Cities. And a friend wants to go to the Mall of America. I've been there a lot of times. I'm like, sure, let's go. It'll be fun. But I was thinking, we'll just take the light rail. Well, the gentleman at the front desk was like, Hmm, yeah, I don't think you wanna do that. You could take the bus. But, uh, when I did my research, I discovered that the bus was gonna take us like 45 minutes to get there. I could Uber. But it was gonna cost me about$45 to get there. One way, it was like, well, that doesn't make any sense, especially since I have a vehicle available to me. So I pulled up my big girl panties and decided that I was gonna drive. We made it. As you can see, I'm here to talk about it. I made a few missed turns and my GPS was able to quickly turn me around and get me back on track. But it struck me how much that experience in trying to maneuver my way to the Mall of America in city traffic is very much like life itself, right? We all miss turns. We make wrong decisions, we sometimes lose our direction in life, don't we? The difference between staying lost in life and finding our way home isn't about how perfectly we drive. It's who we trust to guide us. So getting back to my loved one. As I'm having this conversation with this young person and realizing how far away from the faith they have gone, my heart just was crumbling. It was so devastating, and I realize how many people I know that have similar situations of people in their lives. People have turned away from Christianity because of the hypocrisy that they believe they see, because of the anger and the, forcefulness that some people are using. And truly the lack of love that they see in biblical truth sometimes. Because our God is a God of love, but he is also a God of justice. And, and people see that in different ways. And it has divided people and it, and it's heartbreaking to think that they might be putting their own salvation on the line in the name of love. In my book, A Different View, I wrote about so much of this topic, and in one of the chapters, the Tolerance Shift I talked about how there will be false prophets in the world and it will pull people away. And, and truly that's what I see happening now is that there are people even in the church that are telling people that God didn't really mean what he said and, and it's, it's truly heartbreaking. People truly have a longing for more in their lives and they're searching for it everywhere, but truly only God can help us satisfy that longing in our heart. And they try to fill it with anything but God. So if you know someone who has wandered from the faith, who is believing the lies of this world, I am just here to today to give you some encouragement too. To trust God's timing, to trust God. Don't give up hope and to pray. Don't ever stop praying for that person that even if they aren't listening to you and your encouragement to come back to the faith God works miracles all the time, and he wants every one of us to be in heaven with him. So if we pray and ask. For that intervention somewhere, it will come. You know, none of us have the control to fix anyone. None of us have the ability to change the course of someone else's life. But we can trust in God's grace and we can trust when he will tell us where to turn and what to do if we're in His word, and if we're praying for his wisdom and discernment and how we behave and how we take action in our day-to-day lives. I love how Isaiah 30:21 says. Whether you turn to the right or to the left, you will hear a voice behind you saying. This is the way walk in it. Just remember that the Lord is waiting for us to return, whether it's like the prodigal son. Where the father is waiting with open arms for that son to return, or where Jesus goes out and leaves the 99 to find the one he is searching for every one of us to bring us back to the fold. He wants it more than even we do. That drive and that conversation reminded me that when someone we love takes a wrong turn. We can't force them back onto the right road, but we can pray and we can trust the one who can see the whole map, the whole future. So I just encourage you, if you have someone in your life who is. Wandered away, whether completely away or just dipping into things that are not biblical. Pray for them. You know, I have missed more than one turn in my life, both on the road in my journey, but more so on so many things that I believed. Some of the same things that, that my loved one is today. I, I bought off on some of those lies and God brought me back and he will bring our loved ones back if we trust in him. God never loses sight of where his children are and he wants us all to be with him. His grace reroutes us. His mercy pursues us and his love will always lead us back. We must believe in that. This is a short episode today. But this has been really heavy on my heart and I know that, I know that the Lord can do anything and I trust him with this like I do with everything else in my life. And I just wanted to share some encouragement with you because. We all have someone who is believing a lie, who is living outside of the realm of biblical truth. So keep praying, keep hope, trust in God's mercy, and please be kind. Let's not judge those people that have fallen into believing the lies of this world, but let's love them where they are and let's show them that Christ's love covers all sins and that we are all welcome back into the fold. I wanna thank you so much for stopping by today and I pray that you will engage your faith and live your more as you engage in your courageous retirement. Thanks for stopping by today.