Being on the path we’ve found ourselves on this year, traveling and even the Colorado shootings yesterday I’ve been reminded over and over the past few months, this is not our home…

We are on a journey, we are foreigners. Sometimes the road seems long, exhausting, even scary. We experience wonderful and exhilarating mountain points along the way but those days can also be met with equally dark valleys.

Our Father reminds us…Dont get too comfortable here. I have something better for you ahead. You are not home yet.

Why do you insist on dragging that suitcase full of regret, fear, resentment around? My child, I told you, I’ve got this. Its too much for you to carry. Leave it there. I have everything you need for this journey. Come to Me when you are weary and I will give you rest. I will turn your days of tears into days of joy and laughter… and when this journey is over, I will carry you safely home.

Wow, what a year it’s been… and we’re not even halfway there yet! This learning and growing and training thing is hard. Just when you think you’re getting the hang of it, the bike pedal whirring around so fast your feet can’t keep up, you are suddenly jerked out of your day dream. Like someone jabbing a stick in the spokes of your bicycle wheel and you’ve been hurled over the top of it and end up in a crumpled heap on the pavement. For a moment you’re silent as you try to catch your breath. Once the initial shock is over however you’re not sure if you should scream, beat someone up or run home crying to mama… or all of the above. Atleast in my meager, insecure human brain it feels that way. Then I stop and ponder, and wonder, what was all this for? Am I supposed to be learning something from this? Would God be able to use pain like this to grow something beautiful? Maybe I was riding too fast or getting ready to cross in front of something dangerous or maybe just maybe I had somehow ended up on the wrong trail altogether. I certainly wish I knew the answer but I don’t. Maybe I will know when I’m further down the road or maybe I will never know in this life, but I do know one thing. I’m reminded not to be too sure of what I may encounter ahead. To listen only to the voice of my Father. To appreciate and seize the journey and opportunities He’s given me now instead of putting it off for “some day” To listen, to soften, to endure, to …forgive… yes that may be the hardest…. and yet I’ve been forgiven for my own failures many times over. It’s a process. It takes resting & recooping … it’s seeking shelter in my Fathers arms, and listening for His gentle guiding and before long, I’m pedaling again!