Lost

Have you ever been lost?!

Maybe you were driving to a new place and weren’t as map savvy as you thought! Or maybe your sat nav was more of a hinderance than a help. Maybe you went for a walk to explore a new area and couldn’t find your way back.

I’ve been lost plenty of times!

Now, one of my favourite shops is IKEA. (Don’t judge me!) I just absolutely love it, especially now I have a flat and can buy cute little things to furnish it and make it a home. To me, there is nothing better than a day out to IKEA. And yes, when I go I like to make a day of it!

But I didn’t just find my love for IKEA when I became an adult and got a flat - apparently I’ve always loved IKEA.

My mum told me this story...

When I was about 2 or 3 my mum took me to IKEA because, like mother like daughter, she also loves that shop. For those of you who have been there before, that shop is massive! There’s sections for everything you could ever need to furnish and decorate your house. So my mum was looking around at some things to buy and when she turned around, I was gone!

I’m not a mother but I can imagine this is where the panic sets in.

Her 3 year old toddler was no where to be seen. Where would you even start looking in a store that big? She had everyone looking for me... the customers, the staff, anyone who would listen to this frantic mother. Her daughter was lost.

Until she heard giggling coming from inside a wardrobe display....

She opened the wardrobe door, and there I was!

The thing with that story is that I didn’t know I was lost... I was just a 3 year old having the best game of hide and seek ever! But now when my mum tells me that story 20 odd years later, I know I was lost. I just didn’t know it at the time.

And that’s often how we find ourselves in life. See, there’s times in our lives when we know we are definitely, 100% lost - like the times I described at the start of this blog - like getting directions mixed up, and so on and so on. But there’s times in our lives where we are just living, going through the motions, plodding along, and we don’t realise that we are lost.

In my opinion, being lost is being separated from Jesus. Because from what I’ve experienced, I was lost before I met Jesus, and now I am found. I was dead and now I am alive only through Him.

It reminds me of the parable of the lost sheep in Matthew 18:12-14. A shepherd had 99 sheep but 1 went missing. He left the 99 to go and find the 1. Now, I’m not sure if that lost sheep knew it was lost at the time. But it did know when it had been rescued by the shepherd.

Jesus is our shepherd and He leaves the 99 to come and rescue you. When we allow Jesus to rescue us it means we are no longer lost, but we are found, safe, and secure in His loving arms.

When you accept Jesus into your life, you are not lost anymore. You have a home, and that home is where God is. In Him, we are found.