When I heard/learned about orientation, disorientation, reorientation in November of 2016, it was life changing for me. It was in a podcast, Rob Bell’s RobCast Wisdom # 9. It released the Thursday after the Tuesday 2016 Presidential Election if I remember correctly. Rob and Pete Rollins discussed what the country was going through and shared about orientation, disorientation, reorientation.  

The idea that we are oriented to a way of life, how things are, what we expect to happen, then something disorienting happens and we are knocked for a loop, uncertain of how to proceed, feel like the rug has been pulled out from underneath us. We can get stuck in disorientation if we are not careful because we can think whatever happened is overwhelming, too much for us to handle. But the key is to process and move through the disorientation to reorientation, a new more expanded way of living. We include the good from our past orientation, transcend the disorientation and gain new greater orientation.

I learned about this idea at a time in my life when things felt completely disoriented to me. I probably wouldn’t have used the word disoriented initially to describe how I felt. I thought nothing was working out like it was supposed to. Things felt hard, challenging, uncomfortable, uncertain, and I thought everyone was against me. I found hope in the message that I could move forward and get to a new reoriented place. As I studied more about this idea, I also heard it said as order, disorder, reorder.

We go through orientation, disorientation, and reorientation several times throughout our lives. For example, when things change, or we move, or go to high school, or go to college, when we experience a loss, or a transition, etc. I like how Beth Moore says it in So Long Insecurity, “Circumstances abruptly change, and setbacks happen. Relationships unexpectedly end. Or, just as cataclysmically begin. Schools change. Friends change. Jobs change. Offenses happen. Betrayals happen. Tragedies happen. Engagements end. Marriages begin. Kids come. Kids go. Health wanes. Seasons change. An old situation creeping up in a new season of our life can be more complicated than ever. WE can think we’ve murdered that monster once and for all, and then it rises from the dead and it has grown another head.”

We are oriented to a way of being, are familiar with, comfortable, then something causes a disruption, and we feel disoriented. We must move through the disorientation, process our feelings, and become reoriented with life as it is now. (I think too often we fight against reality, thinking “things should be different” instead of accepting what is. What is, is exactly as it should be because this is how it is. If we trust in God’s goodness and faithfulness, then we must except that nothing has gone wrong!)

God teaches us about Himself and builds our character as we move through disorientation if we allow Him to, if we are open and willing to be transformed. We must believe it is all for our good as we trust God. We believe in His faithfulness. Not just say we believe but live like we believe. Our actions should reflect trust. Our actions show what we believe, what we value, more than what we say.

In God and through God. All shall be well.

Life is full of ups and downs, failures, and successes. We decide what we make it all mean with our thoughts. We get to choose our thoughts regardless of our circumstance or what another person says or does. We can choose to believe God’s Truth that He uses everything for our good, that He is working all things for our good. We can process our feeling in the chaos. We don’t know what tomorrow holds, or how God will make a way when there seems to be no way, but we trust He will. The challenge is to not get stuck in disorientation. We must keep moving forward. We keep believing God is good and for us.

In this world bad unfair things will happen; God is working even if we feel we cannot see it. As we trust Him and experience Him in the hard circumstances, as we make it through, then it will be easier to trust Him and trust more quickly the next time unexpected things happen. We build trust.

Our church is currently in a sermon series on the Psalms, and talking about Psalms of orientation, disorientation, new orientation. I found the Psalms to be so comforting when I was in my disorientation. I could relate to how David could be praising God one minute and cursing Him the next. I tend to be an emotional person and reading the Psalms was normalizing for me. In the first sermon of the series our minister said, “The 150 Psalms are a means of worshipping and communing with God in every season of our lives!”

This past Sunday our minister shared a slide that showed in orientation we praise God, in disorientation we cry out to God, and in new orientation we trust God. When we are oriented life is good. It is easy to believe God is on His throne. In disorientation we may wonder where has God gone. We experience anger, frustration, doubt, and darkness. Then in new orientation, which hasn’t been preached on yet but in my experience, is when God has worked in our lives. He has been faithful and surprised us with grace and we see life in a new way. We have hope.

As I mentioned, I think this happens multiple times in our lives in big and small ways. I think there is blessing in practicing awareness. I think there is blessing in bringing everything to God.

One of my favorite Psalms 62:5-8 ESV

For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence,
    for my hope is from him.
He only is my rock and my salvation,
    my fortress; I shall not be shaken.
On God rests my salvation and my glory;
    my mighty rock, my refuge is God.

Trust in him at all times, O people;
    pour out your heart before him;
    God is a refuge for us.

Keep going! Keep seeking and discovering God as you pour your heart out to Him in every season of life!