You're Pulling: Maybe It's Time for an Alignment Check

Have you ever been driving down the road, loosened your grip on the steering wheel just a little, and realized your car was pulling to one side? The steering wheel may be slightly crooked even though you are driving straight. Your tires may be wearing unevenly, or there may be a vibration you didn’t notice before. The car is still moving. You are still getting where you need to go. Still, something is off. You may need an alignment.

As I thought about that, I realized cars aren't the only things that can get out of alignment. We can too. We can still be working, serving, praying, showing up, accomplishing, succeeding, and looking perfectly fine to everyone around us. Yet, somewhere along the journey, we started pulling. The pull may not be strong enough for anybody else to notice, but we know when something isn’t quite right.  Maybe it's time for a spiritual alignment check.

We will all experience something that pulls us out of alignment, and it is key to recognize the pull and respond to it properly.  

POTHOLES ARE PART OF THE PATH

Cars usually don’t get knocked out of alignment sitting in the driveway. It happens on the road. It can happen from one hard hit or a series of them: accidents, potholes, curbs, or bumps. Sometimes, it’s simply the wear and tear that comes from traveling mile after mile.

Life can be like that too. Some things hit us hard: loss, grief, betrayal, heartbreak, failure, and rejection. Then there’s the everyday wear and tear that builds over time: disappointments, compromises, unanswered prayers that linger, relationships that hurt us, or something somebody said that we internalized. Don’t forget the fan favorite, “life lifing.” Those experiences can change how we see ourselves, other people, and even God. Little by little, without even realizing it, we start pulling.

Jesus tells us plainly that in this world we will have trouble, and He tells us to take heart because He has overcome the world (John 16:33). Life is going to happen. The question is: Has what happened to you caused you to drift from the path you were on? Has it pulled you away from your purpose?  

What happened to you may have knocked you out of alignment, but it does not have to determine your destination. You can’t control much of what life throws at you, but you can control how you respond and whether you allow what happened to keep you stuck there.

PAY ATTENTION TO THE PULL

One of the clearest signs that a car needs an alignment is that it begins pulling to one side. We should pay attention to the spiritual pulls in our lives too. When pressure comes, what do you naturally pull toward? Fear? Control? Comparison? Bitterness? Isolation? Approval? Worst case scenarios? God?

What you repeatedly tune into, you turn into. So, pay attention to who and what receives your attention. Our belief systems don’t develop in a vacuum.  They are shaped over a lifetime through information, observation, exposure, and experience.  Just because you believe something doesn’t make it true, no matter how strongly you believe it. Everything that gets your attention does not deserve your focus.

Pain may tell you that you will never trust again. Rejection may tell you that you are not enough. Failure may tell you not to try again. Disappointment may tell you that God is not going to come through. If we are not careful, an experience can become a belief, a belief can become a thinking pattern, and a thinking pattern can become a stronghold. Paul writes that the weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world and, on the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds (2 Corinthians 10:4 NIV).  One of those weapons is Truth. What you experienced may have been unjust, unfair, painful, challenging, or just plain hard. That said, the story you tell yourself about what happened to you and what that experience means impacts how that experience shapes you. That’s why it’s important to use the Truth of God’s Word to confront the lies that lived experiences have taught us.

Strongholds aren’t always obvious. They can be rooted patterns of thinking that become resistant to Truth. The thing pulling us out of alignment may not be what is happening around us, but what has taken root within us. So, pay attention to the pull because it may be revealing something within you that God wants to bring back into alignment.

DON’T JUST TREAT THE TIRE

When a car is out of alignment, the uneven wear may show up in wheels and tires, but the wheel itself isn’t necessarily the problem. An alignment adjusts the vehicle’s suspension to enable the tires to meet the road at the proper angles. Treating only the tire will address what you can see without addressing the root issue, and before you know it, you’ll be right back out of alignment again.

The same can happen in our lives. We can keep compensating, adjusting, pushing through, and telling ourselves we’re fine until the strain starts showing up somewhere else. In vehicles, continued misalignment can wear through a tire prematurely and eventually leave a driver vulnerable to a dangerous blowout.  We may not have blowouts, but we do have burnouts albeit spiritual, emotional, physical, mental, professional, and so forth. Refusing to address an issue or pattern in your thinking, emotions, relationships, or habits will eventually create strain somewhere else in your life.

We can spend years asking God to fix the “tire” when the root issue is deeper. The underlying belief of what the relationship means may be the issue, not the relationship itself.  An overfilled scheduled may not be the root cause of your exhaustion or burnout … your priorities could be out of alignment. Don’t just treat what’s showing up on the surface. Ask God to help you see what’s underneath it.

Good news is when something is out of alignment, you don’t have to throw everything away. When a car has an alignment issue, you don’t get rid of the entire car. You address what is out of alignment.  I’m reminded of Jeremiah 18:4–6 where he watches a potter working with clay, and when the jar doesn’t turn out as the potter intended, the potter doesn’t throw the clay away. He reshapes it. God then reminds His people that, just like the clay is in the potter’s hands, we are in His hands. I love this illustration because we can be so quick to think something is ruined and unusable, while God is saying to us, “Give it to me”.

That doesn’t mean everything is meant to be kept. Some things need to be released, while other things can be restored, reshaped, or realigned. That’s why we need Godly discernment to know the difference. You may not need to throw everything away and start over. You may just need to put it back in the Potter’s hands.

CHECK WHAT’S GUIDING YOU

Proper alignment isn't enough if you can't clearly see the road you're traveling. When you are driving at night, your headlights don’t change the road. They illuminate it. Perspective can do the same thing. We can find ourselves asking God to change the road when what we really need is His light to help us see the road differently.

God’s thoughts are not our thoughts, and His ways are not our ways (Isaiah 55:8). The closed door may make sense from where God sits. The delay may make sense from where God sits. The redirection may make sense from where God sits. What you are calling a setback may look completely different from where God sits. Spiritual alignment requires us to trust God enough to follow a path we do not fully understand and may never understand. Obedience doesn’t require my understanding.

It’s counterproductive to ask God for the destination if we’re going to rely on ourselves, someone else, or something else for the directions. If we’re being directed by pain, fear, feelings, ambition, people pleasing, etc. experiencing a pull is inevitable. Proverbs 3:5–6 reminds us to trust in the Lord rather than lean on our own understanding, to submit to Him in all our ways, and He will make our paths straight.  Just as proper alignment keeps a vehicle from pulling from side to side, allowing God to direct us helps keep us centered on the path He has for us and give us the proper perspective.   

CHOOSE PROGRESS OVER PERFECTION

Even after your car receives an alignment, you will eventually need another one. There will be more potholes, bumps, miles, and wear and tear. Mechanics recommend an alignment every 10,000–15,000 miles or about once a year. So, alignment isn’t a one-time adjustment. It requires us to keep checking and adjusting along the journey.

Alignment isn’t about perfection. Paul admits that he hasn’t arrived, but he keeps pressing forward (Philippians 3:12–14). You and I will never achieve perfection because we are imperfect people who do everything imperfectly, and that’s okay. You can be imperfect and still be aligned. You can make a wrong turn and be redirected. You can discover your thinking has been wrong and renew your mind. Recognizing that something about you needs to change doesn’t mean believing there is something fundamentally wrong with you. There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:1). God’s correction is not condemnation. It is an invitation to recognize the pull and come back into alignment.

Truth be told, I’m not there yet, but I keep pressing. I haven’t gotten everything right, but I keep pressing. I’m still moving, and that’s progress. When I drift, I allow God to correct, guide, and heal me, and I keep going. That’s persistence.

Let me be clear, pressing doesn’t always mean pushing through. There are times when progress looks like moving forward, and there are times when progress looks like stopping long enough to rest, heal, and allow God to restore us. Rest is not the opposite of progress. Sometimes, it is part of it. Even Jesus recognized the need to step away and make space for rest (Mark 6:31). So, be careful not to confuse persistence with constantly pushing yourself beyond your limits.  

The goal isn’t to get everything right or never drift or pull. The goal is to remain sensitive enough to God to recognize the pull, humble enough to make the adjustment, and submitted enough to follow His lead.

You can start with this prayer below. In the meanwhile, stay encouraged.  Stay aligned. Keep moving forward.

sAlignment Check Prayer

Lord, check my alignment. Search me and show me where I am pulling. Reveal the places where what I’ve experienced has shaped what I believe, how I see myself, how I see others, and even how I see You. Expose every lie I have accepted as truth and every belief, thought pattern, habit, desire, stronghold, and priority that is pulling me away from You and the path You have for me.

Give me the courage to look beyond what is showing up on the surface and allow You to deal with what is underneath it. I give You the places I thought were too broken, too damaged, or too far gone. Put Your hands on them again. Restore what needs to be restored, reshape what needs to be reshaped, and give me the wisdom and courage to release what I need to let go.

Lord, illuminate the places where I cannot see clearly. When my perspective is distorted by pain, fear, disappointment, my feelings, or my own understanding, help me see differently. Align my thoughts with Your Truth, my desires with Your heart, my decisions with Your wisdom, and my direction with Your will. Don’t just show me where to go. Align me so I can go where You are showing me.

When I feel the pull, help me recognize it. When I drift, give me the humility to receive Your correction and make the adjustment. When I need to move, give me the courage to move. When I need to stop, give me permission to rest without guilt. When I need healing, give me the patience to heal instead of rushing myself forward. Teach me to recognize that progress is not always movement and that following You sometimes means being still.

Above all, keep me sensitive to Your voice and submitted to Your lead. I don’t want to keep moving simply because I can. I don’t want to arrive somewhere You never intended for me to be. I want to be aligned with You. I want to go where You are leading, become who You are shaping me to be, and live the life You created me to live.

Lord, when life knocks me out of alignment again, because I know there will be more potholes, more bumps, and more wear and tear along the journey, remind me that I am still in Your hands. Help me recognize the pull, make the adjustment, and trust You with the road ahead.

Keep me aligned. Keep me submitted. Keep me close. I don’t want to just move. I want to make progress in the direction You intended. I want to thrive. In Jesus name, Amen.