If I were to pull from my journals all that this 65 day ‘pause’ held, you’d be here reading for quite a while. Even in this attempt to abridge those days, you will read for an average of four minutes each day, over the next 13 days.
My sharing of this marking time is part of our flocks “light shining from the hilltop, it will no longer be hidden.”
I know you hear us Jesus, to God Our Father be all the glory.
Here is a snippet of our backstory. On May 15th, 2015 our flock departed on a 44 day journey. We (the five of us and our four-legged friend Hurley) packed a few things, actually it felt like we squeezed everything but the walls of our house into Queenie (our minivan), and hit the road. This trek included us camping in Williamsburg, VA, Outer Banks and Asheville NC, Nashville and Memphis TN, Kentucky and Ohio. It was a fantastic journey. We enjoyed many of our minutes as we ventured out to try new things in new places! We also had our share of challenges. Both celebrations and challenges were expected and both lead us to learning. All-in-all, the trip was one big “win” for our flock. Upon our return home, our little-house-living felt different. (My sharing of this, our little-house-living, is another story for another day!) I know we are not to get caught up in our feelings, and we didn’t, but there was a noticeable change within us as a flock. Neither good nor bad, just noticeable and when I become aware of “noticing” things, my Jesus antenna goes up! End of snippet...
One sunny afternoon in early July of 2015 (a few weeks after we had returned home for our trip), I received a message from Ryan through Facebook. This is a very rare occurrence, so of course it caught my attention. His message was a link to enter an essay contest wherein the winner would be awarded a farm in Hustle, VA. Whaaat?!? Why on earth would he share this with me with the words, “I think you should do this!”
I don’t write for anyone's eyes but mine and my sweet Jesus. I have writing/grammar/spelling hang-ups, issues, whatever you want to call it. I only remember scribbled red ink all over every paper, I ever wrote, in my whole life. Ryan knows this. I definitely was not understanding his confidence in me to write an essay, mail it off and include the $200 entry fee. But after taking some time to research the legitimacy of the contest and waiting for God to whisper to me what I was to do, He ultimately confirmed I get to do this and with that I was confident enough to get the essay started.
To be continued...