Running in the rain

After I dropped the kiddos at preschool I went running around the Municipal park near our house. It was glorious! I got lost in the maze of trails and ended up by the railroad tracks... had to pull out my phone to figure out where I was (oh modern technology, how i have come to depend on you far too much). I loved the adventure of it. I know, it's not like I was scaling a mountain or trekking through the AT but it was a slice of heaven in the middle of our little city. Trees crowded the trail, a small (dry) creek ran on one side and there was not a soul in sight. It reminded me a lot of the trail I used to run on in Waco at Cameron Park. This fact made me all silly with warm memories from college which in turn became a sweet time of worship as I allowed God to show me how much He has done in my life. From that flowed a real spirit of thankfulness- this I have not experienced in a while!

I had a sweet moment of holy contact this morning. I ran along in the "wilderness" of this little park and listened as God ministered to my heart through the music in my phone and the solitude of the place. The rain that came as I exited the woods and made my way back into our neighborhood was so refreshing and loved on me as well! I just soaked it in (literally and figuratively) as God's gift during a bit of a funk time. It is no wonder Jesus always made time to get away to a "lonely place" and pray to his father. For a long time I have known that God tends to use times of physical exertion to speak truth over me and today was no exception. 
I have never experienced more testing and refining than when I  led backpacking trips in Colorado 10 years ago (I can't believe it was that long ago!!) I miss the simplicity of my days during those two summers. When we were on the trail, we had a sole purpose: share the love of Christ with high school kids in the middle of God's beautiful back-country. We would take them up on high places and hopefully share a perspective with them they had never experienced before. I was always stunned by how small I felt amidst the towering peaks and yet how intimately known and loved by God I felt at the same time. Thank you God for giving me a bit of that this morning. You are so good to meet us where we are. I am, as always, overwhelmed by your grace to such a wretch. You alone have my heart.

Please excuse the clarity and size of this photo. I am still figuring out our scanner. This picture was from one of my trips during my second summer at Wilderness. This was an all girl trip that was full of adventure and fun. This was probably one of my all-time favorite trips!