Lately, I have had this phrase running around in my head, “STAY IN YOUR LANE”. I’ve been pondering the power of staying in our own life lane. What do I mean by this? Well, each one of us has been created with individual gifts, talents, and abilities. There is no one created just like you. You have a call on your life unlike anyone else. Only you can fulfill the purposes which God created you for, which is the lane He has called you to “drive” in. Sometimes, in a quest to fulfill our “destiny”, we move out of our lane and try to operate in someone else’s.

This is an area I struggle in. I am pretty good at vision and so I often will have lots of ideas and plans in a lot of different areas but I have to ask myself, are they the areas or lane I am called to? For example, I know I am currently called to pour time, energy and resources into my children. Often over the last ten years when I get before the Lord to refocus my priorities, He will put my family and kids at the top of the list. The other day I was talking to a friend and we got on the subject of legacy. I was moved to tears, as I found a deep longing rise up within me for a legacy to be created out of my family of rich love and enduring faithfulness and overcoming righteousness. This doesn’t just magically happen. My children do not grow up into these attributes, they must be trained, and time spent cultivating an atmosphere in the home for them to learn and grow. If I am off driving in someone else’s lane, my family will suffer.

In the workplace or mission field, the same is true. When we try to take on too many lanes we lose credibility and can become the “jack of all trades master of none”.  Lay a foundation for yourself in the ministry/industry that you love and are called to and you will have established influence. A lesson I’m in the middle of living is that it’s smarter to focus on fewer things and make major progress in each rather than try to do too much and make little progress overall.

“The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; surely I have a delightful inheritance.” Psalm 16:6

It’s easy, in a life filled with the internet, social media, blogs and networking sites, etc. to feel like the “grass is greener on the other side”. Maybe if I try the lane someone else is in, things would work better for me, but comparison and competition never produce good fruit. When we move out of the lane or lanes God has called us to, we lose traction, focus, valuable time, our vision for the finish line wanes and we can enter into feelings of being overwhelmed. Maybe you have heard the quote, “comparison is the thief of joy”? So true! 

We each have a lane specifically marked out just for us based on the assignment God has given us to complete in our lifetime. We are fully equipped (2 Peter 1:3) with everything we need to stay in our lane and run the race towards our God-given destiny.

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.” ~Hebrews 12:1

You are Amazing! Know your role, and what you bring to life’s table, with your specific gift and talent mix and may you bear much fruit for eternity by staying in that lane. Today as we minister in our families, our workplace, and our mission assignments, may we stay in our lane and hear our Father say, “Well done, good and faithful servant!” ~ Matthew 25:23  

Written by: Nita Weldon
Published on 5/4/18