The Invisible Path: When Your Path in Life Is Not Clear

By Dennis Berdecia

In this book, you will understand why your plans in life always seem to take a different turn from the direction you originally set and looked forward to. Not all paths in life lead to adventure and fun, but some do lead to a place of purpose. It is not a bad thing when you dont get your way, for God overrules the plans of those who He has predestined to fulfill His purpose. No matter what type of environment you are in or are very comfortable in, you will start to understand and adjust to new and exciting environments. Your path will feel like an adventure at times, and you may ask yourself, What in the world am I doing here? Your path in life will start looking like a puzzleincomplete, but portraying something that is taking life and showing you how you got there. Knowing Gods plans for you and understanding the path you are on simplifies the meaning to your life.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Nov 7, 2016
• ISBN: 9781512718713

Dennis Berdecia

Dennis Berdecia, an ordained minister and servant of God, belonged to and served Manhattan Bible Church for more than twenty years. Berdecia was also the associate pastor of New Beginning Church at Orange Park, Florida. He is the author of Daily Encouragement with Purpose. He and his wife, Catherine, live in Florida and have five adult children and fourteen grandchildren.

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Prologue

W hen I take a look at my path, I often wonder how I ever got to where I am today. I attend a wonderful church with many wonderful, joyful family members and friends. But as much as I enjoy all the things that God has blessed me with, I tend to look back at my past and all the dangerous things I did as a teenager—drugs, drinking, wild parties, dating as many women as possible, having as much fun as I could—and I wonder how I made it through. It was all laid out for me, but at the time, I still hadn’t figured out that God had set a divine plan before me. I just couldn’t decipher the path in any way, shape, or form. The path was truly invisible. I’d thought I had it all figured out as I lived a life totally out of control, but gradually, things began to turn ever so slightly in a different direction.

I had no understanding of why or how my life was turning; I never sought clarity, continued to seek fun. As a young boy, I was raised in the south Bronx and I attended a Catholic church. I loved being in the church. Inside, strange feelings would come over me, drawing me closer. But the moment I was outside again, I was drawn to the things of the world. What I didn’t understand at that age was that a bidding war had begun between the forces of darkness and the forces of light; they were battling for my soul. When I was a child, I didn’t have a clear understanding of the gospel. I knew that Christ had been crucified and that He rose on the third day, but I still didn’t get it. I didn’t know the true meaning of Christ’s sacrifice and that He gave His life to free me from my sins and the world of darkness, so I could enter His glorious Light. Similarly, many others today are on that same path but not quite getting it. As a teenager, my own path led me to some scary and life-threatening experiences. Although I didn’t know God that well and didn’t have a personal relationship with Him, I was very thankful to Him every time I survived another threatening episode.

God must have had a few chuckles watching me jump out of the fire and into the frying pan. He was giving me a good taste of where I didn’t belong, yet still I couldn’t see God’s hand in my life. When God has a purpose for you, you can run, but you can’t hide—not from God. That strategy didn’t work out so well for Jonah. Have you ever pondered why God ensured Jonah’s story was included in the Bible? God knows the heart of man, so those who choose to take a different path than what He has laid out for them should think again.

As I entered adulthood on my selfish new path, having a good time was at the top of my list. At this time in my life I was living in Brooklyn. One evening, I was planning to take a ride out to the Bronx with a friend of mine, Angel. We were going to pick up a couple of his lady friends, who wanted to go dancing. But that night, before we left Brooklyn, Angel showed up at my apartment with four other female friends. One of them said, Hi, Dennis. Remember me? I looked over and there stood Catherine, an old friend I haven’t seen in years. Hi, Cathy. It’s been such a long time since I last saw you! I said to her. Inside, I was thinking, Wow, she looks great.

After we all chatted together for about twenty minutes, the girls left for a nightclub in Brooklyn, and Angel and I made our way to the Bronx. Angel and I drove for almost an hour. When we finally made it to the Bronx, we found out that our dates for the night were not going to make it. We were not happy about that. As we got back in the van and headed back to Brooklyn, Angel suggested we head to the nightclub where Catherine and her girlfriends were hanging out. My path that night was going to take a different direction than what I had planned.

When Angel and I arrived there, we saw all our female friends standing outside, looking unhappy. It turned out things had been getting a little rough and out of control. Someone had stolen Catherine’s money from her purse, and she was not having a good time. One of the girls suggested that we go to the Catholic Church on New Lots Avenue—they were holding a dance party. So we all headed to the church.

Catherine and I danced a few times. Then we stepped outside and went for a walk to get some fresh air. We talked about the things we loved and disliked, and about the things of the past. We laughed a lot as we walked the streets of Brooklyn. It was January and very cold that night, but we were enjoying each other’s company so much that we didn’t feel the chill. Neither of us knew that God was setting the stage for our life together in Christ; neither one of us saw it coming.

I had not foreseen that my future plans and path would include Catherine and serving God, which I enjoy so much today. That side-by-side walk that Catherine and I took that cold night in January was to be one of thousands of walks God allowed us to have for more than thirty-six years. We both didn’t know that first night that God’s master plan for us was already in motion. I walked her home and we spent a few minutes saying our good-nights and good-byes. The night was brought to an end with a romantic kiss.

Just a couple of years down the road, Catherine gave her life to Christ, and a little over a month later, I accepted Christ as Lord and Savior. We still hold hands, and I am always reminding her how beautiful she looks. We do not have a perfect marriage; in fact, we have come apart a number of times, when things got very difficult for the both of us and we felt it was too hard to handle. Many people say, God will not give you something you cannot handle. That is not quite correct. God, in His plans, will put many things you cannot handle in your path. If spiritual attacks and difficult times were easy to handle, we wouldn’t have any need for God.

God will allow difficult situations to come into your lives; He wants you to depend on Him to get you through those seemingly impossible times. And looking at them Jesus said to them, ‘With people this is impossible, but with God all things are possible’ (Matthew 19:26). Christ Jesus also encourages you on your path and journey with Him; you are not alone. You might feel alone at times, but even if you cannot see your path at the moment, in His Word, you will find understanding, deep confidence, and strength. As difficult and impossible as your path seems to you, God will make the impossible possible.

Remember this: God is equipping you for a future and life with Christ. He is also preparing you for spiritual warfare in this world. Your path will not always be a walk in the park. At times, you will experience many bumps in the road as well as some valleys and mountains.

God’s Plan

M any seek a meaningful life, some seek a significant life, and a few seek an extraordinary life. But there are only two ways of life: the good path and the bad. It is up to each individual to choose the path that is most meaningful and the life he or she desires to live. Can a Christian live a meaningful, significant, and extraordinary life? Yes.

For every living soul, the journey starts with a single step onto the path that has meaning for him or her. That said, that path isn’t necessarily the right one; it’s merely the one that person desires. Many of us have taken the first step already by turning from darkness into the light on the road of repentance. This is a very important decision. Some see winning souls for Christ as a lifelong goal. For others, it is serving Him.

Is winning souls for Christ Jesus something you take seriously? It should be. Ask yourself this question: What would I be doing at this moment if someone hadn’t shared the Gospels with me, if Christ were not in my life? If that’s not enough of an eye-opener, think about where you would be if the person who shared the Word of God with you had themselves never received salvation. Are you absolutely sure that if you died without knowing Christ, you would go to heaven?

Am I making you think? I hope so. As for me, without Christ, I would be deep in darkness or dead, swimming in pain in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone (Revelation 21:8).

God’s master plan for me was an invisible path. Before I came to Christ, I thought I had it all worked out in my foolish thinking and planning. But it was a path of pure sin—God had no place in it. Four years before I met Catherine, I was living with my high school girlfriend, Maria. Her family had left New York to start a new life in California, and we followed. There, I was invited to a small church. I loved the atmosphere but had no true connection in Christ. We lived in California for about six months before coming back to New York. My mom was happy to see me again. She said that she had prayed to God for Him to keep me safe. My mom owned a dry cleaning business, and I ended up working for her. Maria was pregnant. I was so excited about being a father. I wanted to be the kind of father that my own father had not been to me; my father had abandoned my mother and left her with the responsibility of raising three children by herself.

Hoping to be the best father I could be, I made a deal with God. I asked Him to give me a child without health problems, and in return, I would never smoke another cigarette. Keep in mind that at that time, I hadn’t yet given my life to Christ, but I did try to communicate with God a number of times. Nine months later, Dennis Jr. was born, and Maria and I moved into a one-bedroom apartment. Just a year down the road, however, we ended up going our separate ways. It was a very sad time for me.

I had been hoping that Dennis Jr. wouldn’t have to experience the separation of his parents, but in the end, he did. I just couldn’t understand it; no matter how hard I tried to work things out and plan my path, things didn’t work out. I found myself communicating with God again. I didn’t make any deals, but instead I asked Him for understanding. I got no answers. What I didn’t know was that at this time, God was setting the stage for me. I met Catherine four years later, and this time I would try harder to make things work. I began on the invisible path.

My coming to Christ was not an accident. I was rescued. I met Christ on the road to hell, my sister Elba planted the seed, and Pastor Tom Mahairas knocked it out of the park with a great message of repentance and salvation. Christ has a purpose for me, and He has one for you. Some people are afraid to share the Word of God for fear of being rejected, but consider this: It’s not you who would be rejected, but the Word of God. I hope that the more I repeat this, the more courageous you’ll feel about sharing the Word. Just plant the seed. The Holy Spirit will do the watering. I have shared the Word of God with many friends and family members and eventually found out that they later gave their lives to Jesus Christ and received salvation. You can do the same for others through your actions and your words. The Bible says,

Those who have insight will shine brightly like the brightness of the expanse of heaven, and those who lead the many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever.

—Daniel 12:3

Not all are gifted in teaching and sharing God’s Word, but if they are serving God, then He has presented them with their own gifts of serving. You might not be one of the leaders at your church, but you are assisting them in serving. And if they are shining for God, then so are you. Be thankful to God for allowing you to be a part of the family of Christ.

For though I am free from all men, I have made myself a slave to all, so that I may win more. To the Jews I became as a Jew, so that I might win Jews; to those who are under the Law, as under the Law though not being myself under the Law, so that I might win those who are under the Law; to those who are without law, as without law, though not being without the law of God but under the law of Christ, so that I might win those who are without law. To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak; I have become all things to all men, so that I may by all means save some.

—1 Corinthians 9:19–22

Paul put his own life aside and placed his main focus on the lost—the ones living under the twisted Mosaic law. Paul made it his mission to help those lost in error and point to them in the direction of Christ.

My brethren, if any among you strays from the truth and one turns him back, let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.

—James 5:20

Dr. Brett Maragni, the senior pastor of Harvest Bible Chapel of Jacksonville, Florida, shared at a Sunday morning service that if he were the president of the United States, he felt it would be a step down from what he is doing today. Dr. Brett loves serving God, preaching the Word of God, and winning souls for Christ. In his eyes, anything else would be a step down in his life and his journey with Christ. His attitude is like Paul’s; his desire is to win souls for Christ and, most of all, to fulfill Christ Jesus’s main purpose to lose not one life to darkness.

Sharing the Word of God with the unregenerate is God’s plan and purpose.

Those Who Hunger for God

M ost people have a clear understanding of who they are or who they hope to be in the future. But we must also remember that tomorrow has not been promised to anyone. James encouraged us with these words on wise living:

Come now, you who say, Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit. Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away. Instead, you ought to say, If the Lord wills, we will live and also do this or that.

—James 4:13–15

James did not condemn wise planning in personal life or business, but stated that to move forward and leave God out of it is pure arrogance. God’s plan for you will always succeed. Proverbs 19:21 says, Many plans are in a man’s heart, But the counsel of the Lord will stand.

Everybody wants to reach the end of his or her own path in a safe and healthy condition. But how many seek to finish the race in a holy condition? There are many who are not saved or regenerated, but who believe in their hearts that if they are good, generous, and follow the Ten Commandments, they will enter the kingdom of heaven or inherit eternal life. Look at the rich young ruler in the book of Luke. It might remind you of how some today think and live, with money and power as their driving forces.

Now a certain ruler asked Him, saying, Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? So Jesus said to him, Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God. You know the commandments: ‘Do not commit adultery,’ ‘Do not murder,’ ‘Do not steal,’ ‘Do not bear false witness,’ ‘Honor your father and your mother.’ And he said, All these things I have kept from my youth. So when Jesus heard these things, He said to him, You still lack one thing. Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me. But when he heard this, he became very sorrowful, for he was very rich. And when Jesus saw that he became very sorrowful, He said, How hard it is for those who have riches to enter the kingdom of God! For it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.

—Luke 18:18–25

The rich young ruler left a few commandments out, and coveting was one of them. Jesus put him to the test, and it didn’t end well for the ruler. Sadly, his pride and desire to hold on to his possession and wealth had a serious chokehold on the rich young man’s life. He wanted what Christ was offering, eternal life, but was not willing to let go of the very things that controlled his life, his possessions and wealth.

The walk of Christ is a life of giving, serving, and teaching others the will of God. Christians are committed to a Christlike attitude of walking by faith. As a Christian, you know the path and mission God wants you on. The path may not always be clear, but God will direct your steps. Some of those steps will be trials, and some will not have been in your plans, but all will be a blessing in some way.

The invisible path is God’s plan for you. For instance,