Seek and You Shall Find
The path is waiting for you
Hello Friends,
Throughout our lives, we are faced with difficult decisions. The winds are cold and biting into our skin as we stand at the fork in the road. Mist crawls across the dirt on one path and a darkness envelops the trees of the other. As we stand at the fork, our skin turns blue and pale. We must decide before we die in choice paralysis. Finally, we do what we should have done from the start and turn our eyes upward. With chattering lips, we ask, “Lord, what path should I take?” And in his mercy, He answers.
Dixon Greer would soon be facing a fork in the road, though he didn’t know it then. Since he was young, all he could remember was yearning for relationship. To this day, he feels one of the most romantic moments in his life was just holding the hand of the girl he liked in his youth. His heart, like the title of the Carson McCuller’s novel, was a lonely hunter in search of love.
Yet even though he was in his forties, his house was empty. He desperately wished for the halls to be filled with children’s laughter and toys to be strewn about in every corner. He wanted a family but missed the first step: a wife. So, he decided to go find her.
The hunt began. Dixon wanted to do it right this time—not like the dating in his youth. So, he joined Equally Yoked which is a Christian dating service. He was determined to find a woman who shared his beliefs since he believed that would make them instantly compatible. He soon found out he was very wrong. Though he met some of the most spiritual women—those who could speak in tongues or feel the Holy Spirit—there was just no spark. Dixon ended up going on over forty dates before he found her. Susan was gorgeous. On paper, Susan checked off every box. Not to mention, his parents and friends were in love with her. Everyone heard Dixon and Susan’s wedding bells not too far in the distance. Yet there was another sound in Dixon’s heart: the bell toll.
Dixon couldn’t shake the feeling that something was wrong, but he didn’t want to believe it.
Then the dreams began.
Susan was there. She looked radiant and beautiful one moment. The next, her flawless skin was sagging and gray. Her vibrant eyes were sunken and hungry. Darkness emanated from within her.
Dixon likened Susan in the dreams to the Salt Monster from Star Trek
Then the dream would shift completely and there would be standing Shanna. Shanna was a woman that worked for Dixon. When they first met, Dixon had the innate sense that she was kin. In the dream, they would be laughing and having the time of their lives.
For five nights in a row, Dixon had the same dream. Susan would turn into a wretched monster. Then the dream would change to Shanna. One night they were in 7/11, laughing over a Slurpee overflowing out of the cup. In another, Shanna and Dixon were looking at IKEA bunkbeds, planning their life together. Never before or after did he have the same consecutive dream.
He finally got the hint that God was trying to tell him something. One morning he went to his prayer group. He told them he was torn as to whether he should break off the relationship with the girl who had everything he ever wanted or to pursue the woman who was kin and was being drawn closer to everyday. They all clasped hands and prayed for God to reveal the right decision.
Dixon left the meeting and drove to work. When he walked into his office, he noticed something odd. On his chair was a pamphlet. Dixon later asked around the office who put the pamphlet on his chair, but no one knew. The cover was a picture of a fork in a dirt road and the text read, “Activate your power to choose.” Dixon was in disbelief. This was just what he was praying about. He flipped open the pamphlet to find an article about an old word: gumption. Gumption means the wisdom to know what is right and then have the guts to do it. Right then, clarity struck him like a lightning bolt. God was saying to him, “You know what’s right and what’s in your heart. Have the guts to tell Susan you’re through. Move on, take the right fork in the road, and start your life.” So that’s what he did.
He called Susan on the phone and told her the relationship was over. Though she protested and tried to win him back every way she could, Dixon stood firm in his decision. Once the relationship was through, Susan’s perfect façade began to peel back. Underneath was the monster God was showing him all along. In letters, she detailed how she was always letting Dixon win at everything as to not crush his “fragile” ego. She referenced how she let him beat her at tennis even though in reality they were just rallying or that she wouldn’t run faster than him so he didn’t feel like a loser. Dixon put down the letters and thought, “Oh my. This is insanity.” He knew in his heart that if would have went back to her, his life would have been over.
Today, Dixon enjoys bass fishing in float tubes with Shanna—his wife of 22 years. Dixon’s dream of having a family was fulfilled by having three kids (ahem, one being me!). He says with a smile that never once has he been bored with Shanna like he had been with other girls. She was the one God had picked out for him—plain and simple. Dixon in the end says the whole experience was uniquely designed to teach him a profound lesson. Though she was extremely attractive, they graduated from the same college, had sold office equipment like him, and was becoming a teacher like his parents, she was not the one. Their staggering commonality didn’t mean anything because in the end God showed him that the only thing that really mattered was one’s heart and character.
So friends, do you have gumption? When we ask God for guidance, we can be assured that we will receive an answer. Afterall, “All the paths of the Lord are steadfast love and faithfulness, for those who keep his covenant and his testimonies” (Psalm 25:10 ESV). What is God telling you in your heart to do?
