Alignment With God

A Christian pilgrim's reflection on neck tension. A long wait at McDonald's. A familiar verse. A brief moment of perfect peace. This is what alignment with God looks like in real life.

WARNINGS

Trace Pirtle

6/14/20261 min read

A narrow dirt path leads through a dense forest.

A friend of mine used to complain about back pain. He would say, "My back is out of alignment. I need to go to the chiropractor for an adjustment."

My former clients would complain about stress, anxiety, and depression, and come seeking a psycho-emotional adjustment.

I empathize with those who suffer. It's part of the human condition, and I suffer, too. But I wonder how much of the suffering is based on psychological, emotional, and physical misalignment and how much is misalignment with God?

When I feel tension in my neck and shoulders, as I do now, should I seek a chiropractic adjustment? I don't think so.

Why? Because the suffering is situational. When I feel the world closing in on me with no escape route, I feel the tension as a pinched nerve in my right shoulder. The problem is that my mind and body are out of alignment with God. Once I refocus on the narrow path and my alignment with God, the tension releases and the suffering passes.

When I went to get coffee in the drive-thru lane, some guy was studying the menu like it was the first time he'd been to McDonald's. How long does it take to decide you want an Egg McMuffin? And then I understood the problem...his license plate frame said U.S. Navy Veteran. I'm an Air Force veteran.

Of course, my frustration had nothing to do with him and everything to do with my misalignment with God. It took 10 minutes of Holy Spirit psycho-judo on me to take the edge off my frustrated mind.

I even went down the frustration rabbit hole of how I can still be at this regressed level of sanctification despite God's grace and mercy in my life.

And then the Holy Spirit reminded me of one of my favorite memory verses, "You will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on You" (Isaiah 26:3, NKJV).

And for that brief moment, I was at peace and in perfect alignment with God.

Simply Walking With Jesus

Simple Journey | Simple Gospel

Every Step With Him.

"For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them."

- Matthew 18:20