Is your check engine light on? Don’t neglect what it is trying to tell you.

It happened this weekend. We got the call from our teenage daughter on her way home from work. “Dad, the car won’t start. I was slowing down to make a turn, and it just shut off. I am in the middle of the intersection”. We stayed on the phone with her until we got to where she was. We were able to push it into a nearby parking lot for the night. The next day, my husband went to see if he could get it started. He has a nifty gadget that plugs into the cars computer that will show any error codes, and that can help to troubleshoot the problem. The gadget showed that a couple of sensors were malfunctioning and needed to be replaced. By the grace of God, the car started and we were able to drive it home. My husband was able to replace the sensors and the car is fine now. But, what I failed to mention is, that about 6 months ago, the check engine light came on in this car. I told my husband about it then, and he used his same nifty plug-in gadget to see why the light was on. And the computer showed an error with a sensor. The car was driving fine, so we prolonged making the repairs. And, after some time, the check engine light turned off, so we didn’t have that reminder each time we drove the car anymore. But, even though the car seemed to be running fine, something else was taking place under the hood. Little by little, these sensors were going bad, and we ignored the warning signs. Eventually, the car broke down, and without the new parts, it couldn’t run properly.

And I thought, “I do the same thing with my internal ‘check engine light’. I can sense something is off balance in my spirit. I may feel anxious, irritable, depressed, or just drained and exhausted. We have been given these emotions to warn us that something is not quite right, and that there is something going on that we need to take to the Lord in prayer. And even though I know something is off, and even though I know I need to take it to the Lord in prayer….I don’t. I make excuses, I put it off because “I’m busy right now, I’ll pray about it later, I’ve got this, God” Ahhh, procrastination (that’s a topic for another blog post). How often does that ‘later’ never come. I had to learn the hard way that neglecting to pray leaves us broken down.

When we neglect to respond to our internal warnings, we are setting ourselves up for breakdown. God cares about everything that we go through. All of our troubles, our struggles, our emotions. He cares about how we feel and how we live. He wants us to have an abundant life (John 10:10). But he also warns us, that apart from Him, we can do nothing (John 15:5). When we fail to bring our feelings to God, when we decide to ignore those internal warnings, we will begin to internalize those emotions. We will lack the peace and rest only God provides. We will lack the clarity to pursue God’s will for our lives. How do I know this, you ask? Because I’ve broken down. I ignored those internal warnings. Now, for me, I hadn’t stopped praying. I just wasn’t praying about me. I was not being honest with God about my feelings and it cost me. I was experiencing anxiety, confusion, depression, sleeplessness, and I was irritable. What did it cost me? I had lost my peace, my joy, my confidence, and a lot of time. When I finally broke down, I fell to my knees and let God have it (He can handle anything we bring Him). I confessed, I repented. And, after some time of praying, God revealed to me the reason for my ‘check engine light’. My life was not aligned with His purpose and His will for me. The path that I was on was the wrong one, and I had been fighting (unsuccessfully) to make it work. I was striving, which resulted in my anxiousness and other symptoms.

Today, I am even more sensitive to those internal warnings, and I take them to God immediately in prayer. I encourage you to do the same. Don’t wait for the break down. 1 Peter 3:12 reassures us that ‘the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and His ears are open to their prayers.’ God is always waiting to hear from us.

Dear God,

I thank you for your faithfulness and that you are always eager to hear from me. I have been carrying these feelings on my own for some time now, and I can’t do it anymore. Please forgive me. I surrender this burden to you in the name of Jesus. I ask you to please restore my peace, my joy, my confidence and my clarity. Help me to better understand my emotions and to be swift in bringing all of my concerns to you. I want your will in my life, nothing more and nothing less. Please lead me and guide me onto the path you have for me. I love you Lord. In Jesus name, Amen.