I have traveled from Indiana to Florida many times. Now, I travel nearly every year with my family from Florida to Indiana. It is so easy to jump on I-75, turn on the cruise, and just go. It is by far the fastest and most direct route whether heading north or south. Most of the trips have been “hazard” free. Then there are those times we are cruising along and you see the sign: detour, road blocked ahead. WHAT?!?!?

This detour, this road block was not in our plans and does not fit into our busy schedule. We instantly start looking for a way around it. If we had known, we would have simply avoided this part of the route.

Isn’t that the same thing we do in our personal lives. We go about life with a “route” in mind. Our plan is all worked out in our heads and then life happens. We try and map out our entire lives to avoid any delays, any detours, any difficult paths.

The human arterial system is very much like a roadway. Your small capillaries turn into veins, which turn in to arteries. All perfectly designed to carry blood, oxygen, and nutrients quickly and efficiently throughout our bodies to keep all systems moving along as designed. Then we have a simple test and hear words like blockage, catheterization, coronary artery disease, heart attack, etc. Something has caused a blockage in the roadway of our life-giving blood.

There are many medical procedures for unblocking arteries. They use balloon angioplasty or stents. Regardless of the procedure, the goal is to remove or move aside the blockage and get the blood moving again…at the speed we want so that we will be able to function.

Wouldn’t it be nice if it were that easy to rid our hearts of spiritual blockage. We allow bitterness, anger, unforgiveness, envy, pride, and a myriad of other harmful emotions to block the life-giving blood of Jesus. It doesn’t happen overnight, it happens slowly in our daily walk. We feel justified in our anger and so we tuck it away in our hearts. We get hurt by those we love most and don’t get the apology or restitution we feel we deserve. We tuck the unforgiveness away in our hearts.

We keep feasting on what is deadly instead of the fruit of the spirit. Just like physical food can damage a heart, there are many emotions that do the exact thing. One can kill us physically and the other slowly kills us spiritually. The blood stops flowing properly and the love and joy are blocked so deeply we can’t find our way around it.

While a surgeon can insert a stent that will detour blood to still fulfill its purpose, spiritual blockages are a little harder to remove. There is no detour around anger and bitterness. No re-routing fear and unforgiveness. They must be removed to have abundant life.

We must find ourselves before the Great Physician asking for help. We must be willing to make changes that hurt, sometimes far more than surgery. We must let go of self. The ironic part is that holding on to these deadly emotions can lead to physical illness and even death.

Often we find ourselves in a valley of blockages. We feel trapped by our hurts and fears. We want to be further along I-75. We want to be on the mountain top where we can see clearly the path before us. If we truly want that, then we need to remove the blockages ourselves. Seek God. He is truly the perfect GPS. The perfect Physician. The Healer. The Lover of our souls.

While we may love the view and God more on the mountain top, it is in the valley where we learn more about God. We learn trust and forgiveness as He forgives us. We learn self-control as He is slow to anger with us. We learn to not allow the build up of deadly emotions as He pours out His love and mercy and grace on us.

What road blocks need to be removed from your heart today?