I have always been prone to wander. Since I was a kid if I saw something even remotely interesting, I would follow it. I was never fine with a simple answer. “Because I said so,” wasn’t good enough for me. I had to know the reasoning behind things. I felt like I needed an explanation for everything. I always sought after something more. Something to know about having a wandering heart is sometimes it can get you into trouble. It’s easy to wander to places you shouldn’t be and it’s easy for your heart to search for things in all the wrong places.
I grew up in a Christian home. My dad was a preacher so I have gone to church since I came out of the womb. We talked about Jesus daily and read bible stories every night before going to bed. There was never a time God wasn’t mentioned in my home. Sometimes though, you can be around Christians that can leave you with a bad taste in your mouth. I have seen all sorts of bad in the church. I have seen people who claimed to be Christ followers lie, cheat, steal, gossip, and many other horrible things all while claiming to love the Lord. This girl, who could tell you with all the confidence in the world that Jesus was real since she was young, started to think maybe this wasn’t the life for her. This girl with a wander’s heart thought there had to be something better. I always wondered how this could be okay. How in the world can people who are supposed too be different act so much like the world?
My wandering spirt didn’t always follow God the way I should have. I stopped hanging around Christians because I thought the people who claimed to be Christians at school were stuck-up and fake. However, this wander still knew there was something else out there.
I told myself it was time to find something better. It was time to wander somewhere that would actually mean something. I sat myself down one night before bed and told myself I had two options going into college: I could either go out and party hard every night and go crazy or I could get it together and follow Jesus. I thought the latter sounded better and more fulfilling. I wandered to a campus ministry. One filled with people who loved God and lived out the life God called us to. I saw people who were broken but healed by the redemption of Jesus Christ. I saw people who were honest about their struggles and never once made me feel guilty for my brokenness.
I could be free in Christ.
God bound this gal’s wandering heart to him when I was 19. I was rebaptized my second year of college and it was the most amazing experience. I was surrounded by brothers and sisters in Christ who loved me and genuinely cared for me. I found what I had always been searching for.
I had finally wandered to God.
I have never turned back since then. God has taken this adventurous, wandering spirt and used it for his glory. My stubbornness and confidence is now used for him. There is no changing my mind that my God is faithful. There is not changing my mind that God does not work all things for the good of those who are called according to his purpose (Romans 8:28).
I wander not away from God but closer to him each and every day. I seek him with my whole heart because I just want to be near to him. He has called me and still to this day calls me to a plan. I have followed God through many plans and while the journey is difficult the end result is AMAZING. I have adventured to many places proclaiming the name of Jesus and sharing his love with so many people. There is seriously nothing better than living for God. One of my favorite quotes is from J.R.R Tolkien.
Not all those who wander are lost.
This means so much to me and my relationship with God. I wasn’t lost when searching all those years, I was just looking for something greater. Sometimes it just takes some wandering before some can truly know and understand God. I think of this when ministering to others. There are people out there wandering and searching for something. It doesn’t mean these people are lost, it just means they haven’t found what they’re searching for yet.
Wandering for God is the best adventure you will ever have.
My life goal is to share Jesus with everyone I come into contact with. Everyone deserves to know the true, never-ending, reckless love of Christ Jesus. It is my job to share this peace and joy with others. Friends, if you have been wandering for a long time searching for something greater search no more! There is nothing better than Jesus! He will offer you everything you could ever need. He will give you meaning and purpose in your life. He will be your greatest adventure. Let God bind your wandering heart to him. I am forever thankful for this change in my life. I pray you also let Jesus change your life too.
O’ to grace how great a debtor
Daily I’m constrained to be
Let thy goodness like a fetter
Bind my wandering heart to Thee
Prone to wander, Lord I feel it
Prone to leave the God I love
Here’s my heart, oh, take and seal it
Seal it for Thy courts above
Come Thou Fount
Robert Robinson (1758)
My (not so) Instagram Worthy Life 
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